Wayne County is considered one of the unhealthiest counties within Michigan
with high rates of obesity. I browsed the Wayne County Public Health, Human
and Veterans website as well as the Detroit Health Department to identify
different strategies that are being used to combat childhood obesity. I was
disappointed to find that the Detroit Health Department did not have anything
about healthy eating and exercise on their website. There were many other
topics, however, so this tells me that it is a low level concern currently. The
Wayne County Health, Human and Veterans website had a few strategies that
are being advertised. The one that I thought was interesting was the WIC
Community Garden. According to the website, this resource is available to
WIC recipients on a first come first serve basis and it's purpose is to "increase
exposure and intake of fresh fruits and vegetables" (Human, Health, and
Veterans Services, 2022). I think this strategy is good in theory to get low
income families more access to fresh produce and I'm happy that people have
been able to take advantage of this resource. I believe it needs more
advertisement and support, however, because so far it has only helped 70
clients with a distribution of about 43 pounds of produce. This is a very small
amount when considering the population of Wayne County. I hope this garden
will be able to expand as well as the awareness of the program to be distributed
to more people.
Health, Human & Veterans Services (2022) WIC Community Garden |
Health, Human & Veterans Services.
https://www.waynecounty.com/departments/hhvs/wellness/wic-community-
garden.aspx
County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. (n.d.)
https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/app/michigan/2022/rankings/wayne/c
ounty/outcomes/overall/snapshot
