Be Active!
Yuma County Public Health services district plans to launch fitness campaign in 2020
In an effort to teach and share ways for Yuma County residents to exercise, the Yuma County Public Health Services District (YCPHSD) is launching the Be Active Yuma County campaign in 2020.
The campaign will try to reach Yuma County residents through public service announcements on social media, radio and TV and through their presence at local events to help them find ways to exercise that fit within their lifestyle.
“We’re hoping to tell people that exercise can be enjoyable. Exercise doesn’t have to be a chore,” said Suzanne Cooper, YCPHSD nutritional program coordinator, who is helping organize and launch the event. “People enjoy different ways of exercising, and they don’t all have to be the same. Some people enjoy a walk, and that’s exercise. Some people can get exercise by raking their leaves. A lot of people don’t know
that you can exercise just by raking leaves. You can do it any way that fits your lifestyle.”
Yuma County can expect to see the announcements starting in January, which will provide advice on how to stay active and remind Yuma County to stay active as a way of staying healthy.
The Be Active campaign will also be present at events like the body walk in February where they aim to educate a younger audience about their message. They’ll continue to appear at events connected to the county throughout the year, and Cooper said they plan to help expose the public to different ideas of fitness along the way. Some of the activities they have in mind include fitness drills, which would engage people in various workouts to find what works for them, and guides to using workout machines, like row machines or ellipticals, that people may not know how to use or what they’re for.
Cooper said that the campaign is weight neutral and is aimed more at incorporating exercise into people’s life, not getting them to lose weight. However, community plans and community health assessments done by the YCPHSD have in the past identified obesity as a concern for Yuma County, Cooper said.
“We’re not here to just talk about weight or obesity,” Cooper said. “Our interest is in improving community health overall. We’re here to encourage people to be more active or remain active.”