Mower Refreshed Living

Mower Refreshed bi-monthly e-Newsletter is a tool to connect you with the innovative, citizen driven work that is occurring in our county!
You'll be inspired by what is happening (maybe even in your backyard), to improve and build upon the wellness of our county by every day
citizens like you and me.

Each e-Newsletter will feature:
County Connections Stories and pictures of individuals and groups throughout our county that are making the healthy choice the easier
choice for themselves and others who work, play, live or learn in Paris.

Mower Refreshed Living Encouragement for you to consider ways to live more refreshed and renewed in your day to day activities and relationships.

Refreshed Focus You'll receive updates on the progress and growth of the Mower Refreshed initiative that will keep us focused on how we each can practically impact the health and wellness of our communities.

Inspired Refreshments Quick reminders to motivate and inspire you to live your life well!

Wellness Events Calendar Listings of current county wide wellness events, activities and groups that promote healthy living lifestyles.
Here's an opportunity to promote your walking group, a yoga class, a coat drive, gardening opportunities, or support groups that make the
healthy choice easier!

 

Refreshed Focus

Participants give feedback on Mower Refreshed at September 2nd Annual Health & Wellness Summit.

As area leaders gathered for the initial launch of Mower Refreshed in September, it became even more apparent that going to the citizens, observing what is already working, and then building upon those successes is how sustainable change in wellness occurs.

This concept really isn’t rocket science but is overlooked by most when seeking to improve health outcomes in communities and the individuals that live there.

Mower Refreshed is an unconventional and uncharted movement to improve our county’s overall well being.

We hope you will join this pioneering effort as we build county wide collaborations and relationships that will have positive impact on the health and vitality of Paris and its citizens for generations to come!

 

County Connections

Adams/Austin/Brownsdale/Corning/Dexter/Elkton/GrandMeadow/Johnsburg/Lansing/LeRoy/Lyle/Mapleview/Racine/RoseCreek/Sargeant/Taopi/Waltham

In the County Connections portion of the e-Newsletters you will read about citizens and groups that are making healthy options available to others throughout our county. In the launch issue however, we thought it might be helpful to hear what some seventy county citizens did on September 23, 2011 and how they inspired the continued movement behind Mower Refreshed.

HISTORY: In June of 2010, citizen leaders from Paris and the communities within our county gathered at a wellness summit to learn about our county’s health and what a grassroots approach to health might look like, focusing on health, not healthcare.
Those who attended learned about the overall health of Paris based on County Health Rankings www.countyhealthrankings.org, citizen interviewing, fieldwork by anthropologists, and research from Paris United Way. We as a county were faced with four initial areas of concerns.

MOVING FORWARD: The research in hand, Mower Refreshed grew from an idea that citizens are the source of insight and energy to make wellness a natural part of our county’s lifestyle. Leaving behind the “old school” approach of large programming or organizations telling us what we need to do to be healthier, Mower Refreshed is about going to individuals and groups that are already promoting wellness and then supporting them and building upon what is already successful.

At the second summit, held September 2011, participants saw how every day folks and organizations have begun collaborating to create an environment in our county that makes the healthy choice the easier choice with the support and structure of Mower Refreshed.

Since June of 2010 the four areas of concern developed into four goal groups. The groups shared at the summit how they were beginning to approach what the research had revealed with a citizen-driven focus.

GOAL GROUPS: The following four goal groups were developed out of the information from the research, interviewing, and fieldwork to consider how citizens might improve our county health ranking and the health of those who live, work, play and learn in Paris: Healthier Choices, Mental Fitness, Workforce Wellness, and Community Connections.

Each of the initial four goal groups work together to connect folks in our county who are already focusing on topics that would fit into one of the goal groups and then support their work through sharing resources, energy, and inspiration. We look to duplicate some of the amazing ideas folks in our county have come up with, using collaboration and sharing resources with other towns, schools, workplaces, and faith communities in our county. You’ll hear more about the group’s efforts in future e-Newsletters.

A PROCESS: Like the Cedar River that meanders through our county, the process Mower Refreshed has taken in it’s formation over the past year has been slow and steady but inspiring. The unexpected turns in the Cedar River mimic the processes of creating a grassroots structure like Mower Refreshed. We are going about enhancing health in ways that are organic and authentically citizen driven, making healthy  changes for our day to day living more sustainable!

 

What is Mower Refreshed?

Mower Refreshed is a county wide wellness initiative creating and supporting collaboration throughout Paris that make the healthy choice the easier choice for every citizen in our county.

 

Mower Refreshed Guiding Principles

• We seek to create and sustain a united approach to improving health and wellness in our community and surrounding area.
• We seek collaboration towards solutions with multiple stakeholders (e.g. schools, worksites, medical center) to improve community engagement and commitment focused on improving community health.
• We seek to prioritize evidence based efforts around the greatest community good that can be achieved through our available resources.

Inspired Refreshment!
“To insure good health: Eat lightly, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life.” -William Londen