Local Strategies for Physical Activity and Nutrition

The Local Strategies for Physical Activity and Nutrition (LSPAN) grant is no longer active. It focused on creating policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change in communities to encourage healthy nutrition guidelines, support breastfeeding-friendly environments, improve nutrition and active play in early learning systems, and implement activity-friendly built environments. The Kittitas County Public Health Department is one of five recipients of this grant funding in Washington State.

PSE change is a strategy that Public Health uses to help create settings in our community that encourage healthy behavior and choices. This approach can create sustainable, population level change.

KCPHD will work on four different projects in Kittitas County as a part of the LSPAN grant.

Breastfeeding Friendly Workplaces Project

KCPHD is offering support and guidance to local employers to implement Washington State’s breastfeeding accommodation requirements, and to create additional optional policies and procedures to create a breastfeeding friendly workplace. Information on initial work done with fast food restaurants can be found in the Breastfeeding Accommodation Survey Results Report.

We know that breastfeeding friendly workplaces benefit both employees and employers! There are many success stories. Find out how a fast food restaurant offers lactation break time, space and support for their employees here.

Project partners include the Kittitas County Breastfeeding Coalition and the Kittitas County Chamber of Commerce .

The Kittitas County Public Health Department's
Making Milk at Work, Work!

Milk Expression in the Workplace Webinar
Presentation Slides

Rebekah Moon and Cambron Walker are Health Promotion Specialists with the Kittitas County Public Health Department. The Kittitas County Public Health Department (KCPHD) and Kittitas Valley Healthcare (KVH) worked together in getting the Accommodation for Breastfeeding Employees Policy implemented at KVH. This work was supported by the Local Strategies for Physical Activity and Nutrition (LSPAN) grant awarded to KCPHD by the Washington State Department of Health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 70% of employed mothers with children less than 3 years old work full-time. Working outside the home is related to a shorter time breastfeeding. Federal and Washington State laws say certain employers must provide breastfeeding employees with breaks and space for expressing milk. In Kittitas County, some workplaces, like KVH, have increased support for breastfeeding parents.

Social Media Toolkit (English) Social Media Toolkit (Spanish)

Benefits for Mothers and Infants

Breastfeeding is considered the clinical “gold standard” for infant nutrition. Many health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control, recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, and breastfeeding with complementary foods for a year or longer.

For babies, breastfeeding health benefits include:

• Reduced risk for asthma, obesity, allergies, and Type II diabetes
• Fewer ear and respiratory infections
• Lower risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
• Increased cognitive and motor development
• Increased bonding between mother and infant

For mothers, breastfeeding health benefits include:

• Reduced postpartum hemorrhage
• Reduced risk for heart disease, Type II diabetes, ovarian and breast cancer
• Birth spacing
• Increased bonding between mother and infant

Benefits for Employers

Supporting breastfeeding employees is the right thing to do and provides benefits to businesses as well. Breastfeeding friendly employers see a return on investment, including:

• Retention of experienced employees;
• Reduction in sick time taken by both moms and dads for children’s illnesses;
• Higher company loyalty and employee morale; and
• Lower health care and insurance costs.

Resources for Employers

In July 2019, the Washington State Legislature put into place breastfeeding accommodation requirements for employers, adding to the federal accommodation requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). RCW 43.10.005 requires employers of 15 or more employees to provide pregnancy and breastfeeding related accommodations, including

• Providing reasonable break time each time an employee has a need to express breast milk for two (2) years after the child’s birth.
• Providing a private location that is NOT a bathroom and shielded from view and free from any intrusion from co-workers or the public.

Resources for Breastfeeding Employees

Employees’ Guide to Breastfeeding and Working
This guide helps pregnant and breastfeeding moms prepare for and navigate returning to work and expressing milk at work. Practical tips include how to approach your supervisor, dealing with coworkers, and sample pumping schedules.

Kittitas County Breastfeeding Coalition
Coalition members represent local breastfeeding experts who can offer support, guidance, and recommendations to help prepare for returning to work or who are back at work and need support to continue expressing milk.

Understand Your Rights
Washington State has breastfeeding accommodation requirements that go beyond federal law. Review these at RCW 43.10.005. If you feel that an employer has failed to meet these requirements, you can contact the Civil Rights Division of the Attorney General’s Office for more information.

For breastfeeding support free of charge in Kittitas County, contact the Family Birthing Place Lactation Program or the 4th Trimester Resource Center at Kittitas Valley Healthcare (KVH).
• To schedule directly with a KVH International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) contact Lactation Services at 509-962-7388.

Activity Friendly Environment

What is an Activity Friendly Environment?

Activity Friendly Environments are settings where people of all ages and abilities can be physically active on a regular basis. This can look like easily walking or biking to school, stores, banks, movie theaters, schools, etc., as well as taking part in these and other kinds of recreation within one’s own community.

Current Work

• Awarded Complete Streets grant for City of Cle Elum
  • Visit the State of Washington Transportation Improvement Board, to see a full list of awardees.
  • Complete Streets are streets designed to be safe for all bodies and mobilities. The designs can include a variety of features, including sidewalks, accessible pedestrian signals, curb extensions, and more, with the goal of creating equitable spaces for all.
  • Visit the City of Cle Elum Complete Streets Policy to learn more.
  
• Participation in a regional ParkRx program
  • Park Prescription programs promote the idea of prescribing physical activities and time in nature to improve mental and physical health. To learn more, visit the Washington Parks RX Task Force Findings & Recommendations. For more information about the ParkRx movement and to get involved, please visit the ParkRx website
  • To sign up for Park RX and prescribe parks to patients, visit the Case for Nature Prescriptions

Past Work

• Active Transportation One Sheet Cle Elum/S. Cle Elum
• 2019 KCPHD Active Transportation Survey Report
• Cle Elum Bike/Ped plan

Active People, Healthy Nation^SM

The Active People, Health Nation^SM is a national initiative from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It aims to help Americans become more active by the year 2027 through a variety of strategies and resources. KCPHD continues to utilize these tools in our work.

To learn more about the Active People, Healthy Nation^SM Active People, Healthy Nation^SM website.

Food Service Guidelines in the Emergency Food System

KCPHD has partnered with FISH Community Food Bank to work with emergency food system providers on incorporating nutrition guidelines into their program policies and operations. These guidelines will be based on the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans created by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. KCPHD will also work closely with SNAP-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education) and other community nutrition experts. Visit the KCPHD SNNAP-Ed webpage to learn more about SNAP-Ed activities.

Nutrition and Active Play in Childcare

KCPHD will partner with licensed local early learning providers to enhance nutrition guidelines and active play in early learning settings utilizing Dr. Diane Craft’s Active Play curriculum. Work will be based on the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans and the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Here are some fun ways to incorporate active play into your child’s life:

• Play catch. Use a ball your child can grasp.
• Follow the leader-get creative!
• Dance.
• Ride a tricycle, bike or scooter.
• Explore nature.
• Practice skipping or try walking backwards

There are many different ways to move, and many different ways adults can be involved! Let’s play and learn together.