Dyersburg to be named Pioneering Healthy Community

Community leaders gather at the Professional Development Center to discuss Dyersburg being chosen as a Pioneering Healthy Community. The group also made plans for the upcoming trip to Washington where they will receive training and tools to bring back to Dyer County to start assessing Dyersburg's environment of health and well-being. From left: Mary Jaycox, Nancy Deere, Beth Bell, David Hayes, Bart Williams, Andy Baker, Randy Butler, Jeff Agee, Allen Hester, Ben Youree, LeAnn Childress, Michelle Puzdrakiewicz and Cristy Evans.

This accomplishment makes Dyersburg only 1 of 138 communities across the nation to be given this distinction since 2004. The award comes from a grant written by Vicki Lake of West Tennessee Healthcare for the YMCA of Dyer County, UT Extension, Dyersburg and Dyer County Coordinated School Health, Dyer County Health Council, Dyersburg/Dyer County Chamber of Commerce, Dyersburg Regional Medical Center, Security Bank, First Citizens National Bank, city of Dyersburg and Dyer County governments.

The group was awarded $55,000 for a two-year project that will give the committee the tools and strategies that will help develop the community to become rich in healthy choices that will support the pursuit of health and well-being of our entire population.

A group of 12 local leaders will be attending the national conference on Feb. 16 in Washington, D.C. to receive training and tools to bring back to Dyer County to start assessing Dyersburg's environment of health and well-being. Representing Dyer County at this conference will be the team's coaches: YMCA CEO Randy Butler; co-coaches Nancy Deere (Dyersburg School System) and Cristy Evans (Dyer County School System) with team members David Hayes of Security Bank; Vince Haymon of First Citizens National Bank; Mary Jaycox of Dyer County Health Council; Beth Bell, UT Extension agent; Andy Baker from Dyersburg Parks and Recreation; Bart Williams, city of Dyersburg alderman; Ben Youree of Dyersburg Regional Medical Center; Tammy Hall of the Dyersburg/Dyer County Chamber of Commerce and Dr. Michelle Puzdrakiewicz of Medsouth Health Care.

After returning to Dyersburg, the team would like to increase its membership as it finds ways to advocate healthier lifestyles and stimulating environmental change.

"This award is a great honor for our area and could be a great springboard to get Dyer County on the map on Quality of Life issues," said Butler. "Once back from Washington our team will have $40,000 to start the work for a healthier community. The spirit of the grant is the community working together to build a solid plan with the end result being healthier choices for the entire area. The one reason our team was picked was the great willingness of cooperation and partnerships that already exist in our community that should only grow from this process. Once returning home some PHC teams have grown to encompass over 200 team members so we hope to get more people involved in the process once we return from Washington the middle of February."

The chief strategic objectives for Pioneering Healthy Communities include:

* Enhancing the importance of a healthy lifestyle;

* Building relationships within communities by focusing on the leading health issues facing this country;

* Strengthening the capacity for coalition building in communities;

* Attracting a new set of volunteers to the effort to build a healthy community;

* Increasing the community's ability to promote policy and environmental changes that encourage and support healthy living.

The cities that were chosen for the statewide Pioneering Healthy Communities are Darien, Conn., Hartford, Conn., Southington, Conn., Wallingford, Conn., Waterbury, Conn., Wilton, Conn., Burlington, Conn., Frankfort, Ky., Madisonville, Ky., Owensboro, Ky., Paris, Ky., Pikeville, Ky., Bristol, Tenn., Chattanooga, Tenn., Dyersburg and Kingsport, Tenn.

Those interested in working to develop a healthier Dyer County please contact Randy Butler at the YMCA so he can get you involved with this process.