Embracing the Local: MN Farm to School Programs See Dramatic Increase

Public News Service-MN

MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota schools are embracing locally produced food, according to a new report.

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) study shows a dramatic increase in Farm to School initiatives in Minnesota. A survey of 165 school districts - half those in the Minnesota - found that the number engaged in Farm to School rose from only 10 in 2006 to 123 in 2010.

JoAnne Berkenkamp, IATP's program director for local foods, says the initiatives promote healthy eating and educate students about how and where their food is grown. She says there are other benefits as well.

"It's also an economic-development strategy that is really aimed at supporting our local farmers and our rural economies. And it's a strategy for building community by engaging parents and farmers and the grandparents, and many other members of the community in what's happening in school food service."

Most schools rated their Farm to School programs as either "very" or "somewhat" successful, and would either continue or expand their efforts. Districts also incorporated a growing diversity of foods into their programs, with apples, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes and squash topping the list. Berkenkamp says the most common challenges school districts face in adopting Farm to School include extra time and labor for food preparation, price and budgeting, and finding farmers from whom they can purchase food directly.

Greg Reynolds with Riverbend Farm in Delano encourages farmers to take the initiative in making those connections with schools. He got involved with Farm to School two years ago, and believes it's the next big market for small farmers. He also enjoys the satisfaction of knowing how his work impacts students' nutrition.

"When it's local, they eat more fruits and vegetables. And what the cook supervisors found was that they continue to eat more fruits and vegetables when the local stuff isn't in season. So it's really making a difference in their diet. They're eating better food."

Apples tend to be a common way to introduce Farm to School to children. But when the Orono School District started the program, says Kris Diller, who supervises the district's child-nutrition program, it decided to attract more students with honey and brought in a beekeeper.

"He brought in samples of his beehives, and he brought in his beekeeper's suit and his helmet, and explained to the kids how he goes and collects the honey. And then the students all got samples of his honey. And then, one of the days, we made cornbread, and then we had Scott's Bees and Honey that day. So the kids knew that came from his farm."

The Orono district has been involved with Farm to School for three years, Diller says, using a range of fruits and vegetables as well as locally produced cheese, honey and bread. While some districts do Farm to School only in the fall, Diller says Orono has a year-round program, and hopes to incorporate a community garden as a next step.

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Editorial: Reject challenge to state smoking ban

Appeared in Minnesota Star Tribune on 2/27/11

Public health is well-served by clean indoor air rules.
Star Tribune Editorial

A proposal to repeal part of Minnesota's indoor smoking ban should be snuffed out immediately.
Diluting the state's hard-won victory for clean indoor air is a terrible idea that shouldn't get any legislative traction this year.

A small, bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to repeal the portion of state law that prohibits smoking in bars that also serve food.

Under the plan, bars would have to provide a room sealed off from the adjacent restaurant with floor-to-ceiling walls and a ventilation system that exchanges the indoor air every two hours.
Smoking would still be banned in the rest of the building.

The proposed legislation would also phase in deadlines for bar/restaurants to install ventilation systems, based on their alcohol sales.

Businesses with 40 percent or less of their revenues in liquor sales would have to install ventilation systems by mid-2012; those with alcohol sales of more than 80 percent would have until 2017.

That would give bars several years to return to the "bad old days'' of cloudy rooms where smoke can easily drift into other parts of the building.

The claim that nonsmokers can be separated and protected was soundly discredited during debate when the ban was passed in 2007.

Research is clear on that point. Officials of the local Cancer Society say the proposed ventilation requirements would not remove smoke-related carcinogens from the air.

A 2005 Minnesota Health Department study found that huge numbers of Minnesotans are exposed to and affected by secondhand smoke every year. That includes nonsmokers who try to avoid smoky venues.

Though Minnesota's law has been in effect for three years, debate has continued over the financial impact on bars and restaurants.

Some bar owners say they've had dramatic drops in business because of the ban; others report that their establishments attracted new customers who enjoy eating and drinking in a smoke-free environment.

Supporters of weakening the ban also argue that smoking is a matter of personal choice that should not be impinged upon by government. One lawmaker said customers should have the right to select a bar or restaurant based on whether the establishment allows smoking.
Not quite. Individuals can indeed decide where to eat and drink. But they have no right to endanger the health of those around them or drive up health care costs for other taxpayers.
Smoking and secondhand smoke contribute to lung cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, male impotence, and routine colds and illnesses -- just to name a few related maladies.

A study commissioned by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota found that illnesses caused by secondhand smoke alone add nearly $216 million annually to state health-care costs.
Most states, including neighboring Wisconsin, have moved in the other direction by wisely prohibiting smoking in public indoor spaces.

More than three decades ago, Minnesota was a pioneer in the campaign for clean air -- and it took nearly that long to get the exemplary 2007 law in place.

This is no time for our state to step backward and lose ground on this important public health front.

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/116956693.html

Minnesota Man Saved by 96 Minutes of CPR

Check out this incredible story of heroism by 20 people who performed CPR on a Minnesota man for 96 minutes, ultimately saving his life. http://abcn.ws/g86EuV You can also be a hero and save a life if you ever witness an event. Watch this video to learn how: www.handsonlycpr.org.


CPR Marathon: More Than Two Dozen Responders Resuscitate Neighbor for 96 Minutes
Doctors Say CPR Made All the Difference in Saving Howard Snitzer's Life After Heart Attack
From ABC News

It's not very often Dr. Roger White uses the word "amazing." But when more than 20 first responders tirelessly performed CPR on a dying man for more than an hour and a half -- and saved his life -- the co-director of the Mayo Clinic's emergency transport team said it was nothing less than remarkable.

"If he had not had CPR, and good CPR, he would not have survived," White said. "CPR made all the difference."

It was just another cold winter's evening in tiny, remote Goodhue, Minn., where the population is less than 1,000, and they don't even have a traffic light.

Howard Snitzer, 54, was heading to buy groceries at Don's Foods, when he crumpled to the sidewalk, suffering a massive heart attack.

While the grocery clerk called 911, the only customer in the store, an off-duty corrections officer, rushed to Snitzer's side and began what could be the longest, successful out-of-hospital resuscitation ever.

Across the street, Roy and Al Lodermeier, of Roy and Al's Auto Service, heard the commotion and hurried over.

"He wasn't breathing," Al Lodermeier said. "He was in trouble and that's when we started doing CPR."

As news spread, the numbers grew. The team of first responders in Goodhue is made up entirely of volunteers. In total, about two dozen pairs of hands worked to the point of exhaustion to save Snitzer's life in a CPR marathon.

"We just lined up and when one guy had enough, the next guy jumped in," Roy Lodermeier said. "That's how it went."

Candace Koehn, the off-duty corrections officer who was first on the scene, said the group worked as a team.

"Usually," Koehn said, "there was someone on the sidelines saying, 'Hey, you want me to take over? You need a break?'"

When the paramedics arrived via helicopter, they witnessed an astonishing scene. Mary Svoboda, a Mayo Clinic flight nurse who flew in on the emergency helicopter, said "it was unbelievable. There were probably 20 in line, waiting their turn to do CPR. They just kept cycling through."

The marathon CPR went on for 96 minutes. First responders shocked Snitzer's heart 12 times, and they administered intravenous drugs. When they finally had a pulse and a regular heart beat a, Snitzer was airlifted to the Mayo Clinic.

After 10 days, he was released from the hospital -- miraculously healthy, and incredibly grateful.
"My heart wasn't pumping anything, so the only thing that was pumping my blood was those guys doing CPR," he said.

Snitzer, a relatively new addition to Goodhue, reunited with those who worked to save his life on Tuesday at the town's fire station.

"I think it's the quality of the person," he said. "We're in small-town America, hard-working people. I happened to have a king-size heart attack in the right place and the right time, and these guys would not give up."

He came to thank his neighbors -- no longer strangers. People who simply would not quit when he needed them most.

"I feel like I have a responsibility to them to live the best life possible and honor the effort they made," Snitzer said.

Reaching Minnesota's Hungry Kids Through Farm to School

From Public News Service-MN

WILLMAR, Minn. - During the school year, one Minnesota child in three relies on free or reduced-price school meals for two-thirds of their daily food intake, and yet many low-income children continue to go without the food they need.

In that situation, one popular nutrition initiative may help reach under-served kids. Stephanie Heim, Farm to School coordinator with the University of Minnesota Extension, says research has found when schools become engaged in Farm to School programs, school meal participation rates actually increase.

"Kids get excited about the local farm-fresh food that's being offered to them. Oftentimes this is paired with education and outreach with the students so they learn about where their food comes from and how it was grown. When they feel a connection to their food, they're often more likely to actually eat and taste the food."

Heim says Farm to School initiatives connect schools with local farms to serve healthy meals in school cafeterias, improve student nutrition, provide health and nutrition education, and support local small farmers in the process.

For a rural community, Willmar Public schools serves an increasingly diverse student body, and over half of their pupils are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. Annette Hendrickx-Derouin, director of food and nutrition services, says Farm to School has been a great resource for Latino and Somali students, who make up a third of the district's population.

"They may or may not be familiar with some items that our other students would be, so it's important that we do that nutrition education, and agricultural education along with the program."

She says the district takes field trips to a local bison ranch and farm, and has regular educational activities to teach how different food items are grown, and what food products are made from them.

Considered a pioneer in the local Farm to School movement, Willmar Public Schools have been bringing locally-grown food to student lunch trays since 2004. Hendrickx-Derouin says they have intentionally started the program in the early grades.

"We primarily focused on our kindergarten through grade five program, because we felt that if we could impact what those students were eating, then we would have buy-in for the rest of the years they were in our school district."

Hendrickx-Derouin says their program has been sustainable because they incorporate food items the kids will actually eat. The district took a unique, and highly successful, approach to deciding what made it on the menu. Children taste-tested foods ranging from oven-roasted potatoes, to coleslaw, to wild rice blends, and then voted by placing their trays in bins labeled with happy or sad faces.

The University of Minnesota Extension offers an online Farm to School toolkit for school districts that includes menu planning, recipes and food safety tips, available at extension.umn.edu

Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/18712-2

Unequal Distribution of Health to air on TPT

National research suggests that a person's health is strongly influenced by social determinants, including income, education and neighborhood conditions. This month, TPT is airing a program focusing on the findings of a Twin Cities health inequities study commissioned by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation, including a contribution from the Minnesota Budget Project.

The program will air on TPT's MN Channel on Sunday, February 13, 2011, at 8:00 p.m., and Monday, February 14, at 2:00 a.m. The program will also air on the tptLIFE channel on Sunday, February 20, at 12:00 p.m.

More about Unequal Distribution of Health in the Twin Cities Read the Minnesota Budget Project's contribution to this project