We've missed you!
Hello from Healthy Oxford Hills! We hope that this finds you safe and healthy in these uncertain times. COVID-19 has had a huge impact on our team, shifting our work with important community partners like you to lots and lots of phone calls and Zoom meetings. We've missed seeing you in person, but are committed to taking all necessary precautions to keep folks healthy as we navigate the pandemic. It's been a while since our last newsletter, so this one is a bit long because we've packed it full of updates from our staff and helpful resources.
We hope to see many of you at our HOH Coalition meeting later this month, which we've shifted to be a Zoom call. Please see below for info on how to register.
Stay safe and healthy,
Your friends at Healthy Oxford Hills
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Meet Our Team: Kate Goldberg
How long have you been at HOH?
13 years, I think.
What’s your role at HOH?
Nutrition Educator with SNAP-Ed. My focus has changed over the time with HOH which has made the job fun.
What does a typical day look like?
It depends on time of year what my day might look like. During the school year I do nutrition lessons for children from pre-school-2nd grade, with occasional lessons for middle-high school students and occasional adult class. During the summer I focus more on adult classes.
Who inspires you?
My children, they have done amazing things in their young lives.
Where’s your favorite place in Maine?
Either the Mountains or my garden.
What’s the last book you read?
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kid.
Are you an early bird or a night owl?
Early bird.
What’s your favorite movie?
Pride and Prejudice.
If you could visit anywhere in the world you’ve never been, where would you go?
Kilimanjaro.
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Stephens Memorial Hospital has enacted temporary visitor restrictions to keep patients and staff safe and healthy.
For updates about how Stephens Memorial Hospital and Western Maine Health (as parts of the MaineHealth system) are handling patient care right now, please visit this page.
Updates and information from the Maine Centers for Disease Control & Prevention can be found here.
The Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce has also pulled together a ton of great information about Community Resources during the pandemic.
Lastly, we want to recognize the exceptional response that Western Maine Health has had to COVID-19. Under the leadership of President Andrea "Andy" Patstone, the hospital and local practices quickly made a host of changes to prepare for the predicted surge in Coronavirus patients. Physical spaces were altered, staffing plans changed, and staff took on new roles and responsibilities to maintain the strength of the local healthcare system. Kudos to Mrs. Patstone and the entire Western Maine Health team for all of the hard work it took to prepare and adapt during unprecedented times.
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Healthy Oxford Hills
Virtual Coalition Luncheon
These meetings offer an opportunity for community health organizations and community members to exchange information and build partnerships that improve the quality of life for Oxford Hills' Citizens.
Our next meeting is Tuesday, May 26th from 11:45p-1:00p.
We're trying something new and moving our May Coalition luncheon meeting onto the web. Please join us via Zoom for a chance to connect and share how COVID-19 is impacting you, your work, and your community.
When you register for this meeting we'll send you a link to the Zoom meeting. Sharing the link with you directly in an email will help to provide security for our meeting.
For anyone new to Zoom meetings, here is a helpful video explaining how to connect via Zoom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9isp3qPeQ0E
Skip to 1:12 in the video to get right to the step-by-step instructions for joining a Zoom meeting.
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Family activity with 5210 Let's Go!
Spring is usually a busy time of year for us at 5210 Let’s Go! While our work has shifted from visiting sites in person, we are continuing to support them virtually. We have been sharing resources electronically to support professional development of teachers and staff as well as helpful links, tools and activities to engage families in healthy eating and active living activities. We are excited to bring a virtual training to our early childhood educators on Gardening & Nutrition; engaging youth in planting, growing, and trying fresh fruits and vegetables.
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Our Tobacco Prevention Team is collaborating with Healthy Androscoggin and Healthy Community Coalition to offer a virtual SideKicks Advisor Training. This is another example of the many different ways our team is adapting to working from home.
Contact erika@healthyoxfordhills.org for more information or click here to register.
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Stir Fry with Tofu and Spicy Peanut Sauce
Click here for a tasty and healthy recipe adapted from SNAP-Ed's Cooking Matters class. Holly, one of our nutrition educators has been creating recipe pictorials for SNAP-Ed to share on their website. The recipes here and on the Maine SNAP-Ed recipe page are healthy, SNAP budget friendly and delicious. If you have any questions about a recipe, or would like to learn more about one of our class series, please contact: Holly Stuhr at holly@healthyoxfordhills.org
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Updates from our Community Nutrition Educators
Hollie Legee-Cressman: Since much of my work as a Community Nutrition Educator involves teaching classes in the community, my work looks very different right now. I have been creating training materials, video lessons for Pre-K through 3rd grade classrooms for the Pick A Better Snack and Eat Well Play Hard curricula, and am collaborating with Sarah Carter/Let’s Go to offer a virtual Gardening and Nutrition Training for Early Childhood Education providers in May. In addition, I am exploring the option of offering Cooking Matters at the Store through a virtual format, so if your organization is interested in this, please be in touch! Email hollie@healthyoxfordhills.org
Kate Goldberg: I have been working with the Senior Commodities program in the Rumford area. We have about 300 people that come once a month for the distribution. We call them to remind them and to check-in. We are also getting some boxes together for families of schools that I would be doing lessons in. I am also working on a video lesson for the elementary school.
Holly Stuhr: I have been supporting the Oxford Hills Food Pantry to operate in a safe, sustainable way and am working with Alan Day Community Garden to figure out programming for this spring and summer. I have made video recordings for Pick a Better Snack and Eat Well Play Hard and have shared them with the classroom teachers at my five schools to share with their students. In my spare time, I am teaching my son to bake virtually and watching our ducks grow!
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Our Substance Use Prevention Team has been working on developing social media content that promotes positive social norms. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to learn about substance use rates in Maine and helpful tips to prevent substance use across all ages. We used You Are Prevention and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to inform these campaigns.
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Emily Eastman, our Health Promotion Coordinator for the Growing Healthy Kids program,
is staying busy at Roberts Farm prepping the gardens and growing seedlings!
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This important new service from NAMI Maine is discussed in
this short video from News Center Maine.
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