Health and Human Sciences

The Strengthening Families Program: For Parent and Youth 10-14 is an evidence-based program that can help prevent teen substance abuse and other behavior problems, strengthen parent/youth communication skills, increase academic success in youth, help teach youth skills for dealing with stress and peer pressure, prevent violence, and aggressive behavior at home and at school. Ranked as the #1 prevention program out of 6,000 analyzed by the World Health Organization, the Strengthening Families Program consists of 7, 2-hr. long classes comprising of youth, parent, and family sessions.

Session topics included:

• Love & Limits
• Dreams & Goals
• House Rules
• Appreciating Parents
• Encouraging Positive Behavior
• Dealing with Stress
• Following Rules & Using Consequences
• Peer Pressure

For more information, visit https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/extension/strengthening-families-program-for-parents-and-youth-10-14-post-editable/

Each year, about 659,000 people in the United States die from heart disease, that’s 1 of every 4 deaths (CDC)! Purdue Extension’s Be Heart Smart Program helps individuals learn information to prevent and reduce their risk of developing heart disease. Over the course of four lessons, participants will learn about the risk factors associated with heart disease, important numbers to know, heart-healthy eating, and how to make sustainable heart-healthy lifestyle changes.

Be Heart Smart cost $15 to attend. For more information, visit:  https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/extension/program6/

According to Gallup, only 1 in 3 Americans use a budget and 30% have a long-term financial plan involving savings and investments for the future. Where Does Your Money Go? Program is designed to help consumers better understand how to spend their money. Taught over two, one-hour sessions, participants learn about financial management practices such as needs vs wants, writing goals, tracking expenses, identifying spending leaks, and how to develop a spending-savings plan. Furthermore, program activities help participants increase their knowledge of money management practices that promote financial stability and adoption of new habits that can lead to financial control.

According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report 2020, 34.2 million Americans have diabetes and another 88 million have prediabetes (CDC). Furthermore, people who have diabetes are 2.3 more likely to have greater healthcare cost than people who don’t have diabetes.

The Dining with Diabetes Program is a designed to assist and support individuals who have diabetes as well as their families to help reduce the burden of diabetes by increasing knowledge of healthy foods, tips to prepare quick, healthy, and tasty foods, demonstrating proper cooking techniques, promoting physical activity, building confidence, and providing opportunities for participants to learn from one another.

The cost to attend Dining with Diabetes is $40 per individual or $65 per couple. To learn more about Dining with Diabetes, visit: https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/extension/programs-food-0/#dining-with-diabetes

Welcome to November!
I’m enjoying this wonderful weather. Hope you all are too!

Dates to Remember
November 3rd            International Day & Extension Craft Day
                                    Registration 9:00 - 9:30am
                                    Community Building, Vigo County Fairground
November 10th          Council Meeting: 9am, Executive Board; 10am, Club Presidents
                                    Meadows Learning Center
November 11th            Veterans Day
November 27th           Thanksgiving Day
December 8th             Past Presidents Meeting, Wings, Plaza North, 11:30am
                                     Dress in a Christmas theme
December 25th           Christmas Day
January                        Nominating Committee Meeting, date and time TBA
January 27th                Sewing Day

What did you do for IEHA week/Make a Difference Day?

Please let me know if your club did anything special for IEHA Week and/or Make a Difference Day. I’d like to put a report in next month’s newsletter. Please send pictures to Georgia Hunt, Public Relations, so we can post them on our FB page.

Interested in State Conference? 

Be thinking about attending our State Conference next June 15-17, 2026, in Nashville, Indiana.  If this would be your first time attending, please talk with your Club President about filling out a First Timers Award Form.  One person from each county will be selected and then the nine counties in our District will forward their person’s name to our District Representative. She will select one of the nine to represent us.

 Union Hospital 

Please keep taking sleepers to Union Hospital for the newborn babies.  Be sure to say you are from Vigo County Extension Homemakers and your club name. 

State President’s Project

Our State President is asking us to “Share Some Bloom(er)s” for her service project this year.  Count the items you give to schools, nursing homes, activity centers, etc.  and let me know.  I need to send our State President a count by the end of October.

 Sewing Day 

A great big thank you to the following ladies for helping me to cut out and sew the Christmas stockings for Union Hospital this past October 14^th. : Debbie Brown, Terri Taylor, Ruth Ridener, Jackie Decker, and Georgia Hunt.  We had a fantastic time helping each other.  To reach getting 100 stockings by the first of December, we may have to add another sewing day.  I’ll get the word out to the club presidents and ask them to get the message out to their members.

Educator Spotlight

November is Diabetes Awareness Month 

I am sure you all think I talk about diabetes often—but I want to remind you all again that November is American Diabetes Month. Part of my concern is simply my own family’s health history. I have had grandparents, aunts, uncles live with diabetes. Some of them did this well and others suffered from many other challenges (heart disease, amputations, blindness, and kidney failure) as a result of their diabetes. 

Many of us know someone with diabetes. One in 10 Americans have diabetes — that’s more than 30 million people. A sobering fact is that more people have been told by their physicians that they have “pre-diabetes”. One in three Americans have pre-diabetes. This means those with pre-diabetes is just a bit smaller than the total population of the five most-populated states in the U.S. -- California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Often people realize they have pre-diabetes and are at risk for developing diabetes, but they are not sure of what they should do next. 

Pre-diabetes is not the same thing as diabetes and the recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to take this information and make effective life changes to prevent type-2 diabetes are different. The Diabetes Prevention Program noted by the CDC actually started with a study at the IU Medical Center in Indianapolis. After ten years of research, this program was challenged to implement in a community setting. The Y of Greater Indianapolis was chosen to assist in those efforts and I was one of the first (of three) Lifestyle Coaches trained by one of the founding physicians. After several years of success, it was adopted nationally by the CDC.

So, what is prediabetes? It is when blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. Prediabetes is still serious and individuals diagnosed with it are at an increase risk of developing type-2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

Who is at risk for prediabetes? Individuals that are overweight, 45 years or older, have a parent, brother, or sister with type 2 diabetes, not physically active at least 3 times a week, if you had gestational diabetes, giving birth to a baby who weighed more than 9 pounds, have polycystic ovary syndrome.

Also, race and ethnicity are also factors. African American, Hispanic/Latino American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Pacific Islander, and some Asian American people are at higher risk.

So, if you have prediabetes, what should you do? All you need to do is lose a small amount of weight if you have overweight. A small amount of weight loss means around 5% to 7% of your body weight. That's around 10 to 14 pounds for a 200-pound person. Also, begin implementing regular physical activity. Regular physical activity means getting at least 150 minutes a week of brisk walking or a similar activity.

Achieving those goals can lower your risk for type 2 diabetes by 58% (71% if you're over age 60)according to the National Diabetes Prevention Program. Participants are asked to track fat grams and calorie intake to achieve the weight-loss goal and beginning an activity routine to eventually get to the goal.

If you want to learn more about Prediabetes and the Diabetes Prevention Program, just go to: https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention-type-2/prediabetes-prevent-type-2.html or call the office: 812-462-3371.