Callaway named ‘Y’ Healthy Communities coordinator

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Piscataquis Region YMCA has announced that it has hired Dover-Foxcroft resident Erin Callaway as project coordinator for an exciting new initiative aimed at improving and supporting community health in Piscataquis County.
    The program is being funded by a Healthy Community grant from the Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF). MeHAF’s mission is to help everyone in Maine lead healthier lives, especially people who do not have insurance or are unable to easily access health and wellness services because of obstacles like poverty and mental illness.

    The Healthy Community grant is intended to help individuals and organizations collaborate on identifying key health-related problems in their community. They will then choose one of those problems to tackle and try to solve.
    But MeHAF challenges recipients to think about health as more than just being able to go to the doctor or the gym. “Local recreational opportunities, the availability of fresh foods, school lunch quality, adequate housing, the environment, transportation, community design, economic conditions and specific public health policies all determine how healthy Maine people can and will be,” MeHAF directors stated in their request for proposals. “No single organization or sector can be responsible for the health of a community.”
    To that end, a critical requirement of the “Healthy Community” grant is that the project involves more than just the organizations that provide health services. Callaway’s charge as project coordinator is to invite all groups and organizations that contribute directly or indirectly to community health to participate.
    Schools, churches, law enforcement, town and county leaders and social networking groups are just a few of the players the Y would like to have involved. Even more important, the project will seek input from people who receive services from those groups and those who are unable to make use of such resources because they are socially isolated.
    MeHAF and Callaway know that’s an enormous net to cast. That’s why the  Healthy Community grant provides a full year for recipients to engage all the participants they need to make their projects successful. Callaway, for one, plans to hold meetings and public forums but also wants to use fun and creative ways to gather people’s input. Fairs, parades and other public events are all potential venues for getting people involved.
    “This goal of this project isn’t to tell people what will make them healthier,” Callaway said. “It’s about inviting members of the community to let us know what they think can be done to help them lead healthier lives and to join in the process of making that happen.”
    Anyone interested in participating in the project should contact Callaway at the Piscataquis Regional YMCA at e.callaway@prymca.org or 564-7111.