WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., May 4, 2015 — Melissa Hudson and Kathleen Wack, faculty members from West Liberty University’s Department of Health and Human Performance, recently attended the 2015 West Virginia Physical Activity Symposium and were instrumental in designing a healthy initiative for the Mountain State.
“It was amazing to be in a room with so many people who are passionate about physical activity promotion. It is exciting to be a part of such an important project,” said Wack. “We live in a state with huge health disparities but there are great things happening around West Virginia to vigorously combat the problem.”
The March 30 – 31 symposium was held in Charleston and brought together professionals from eight different sectors to provide a strategic direction for physical activity promotion within the state. The resulting plan is called Active WV 2020.
The sectors included: education; business and industry; health care; mass media; parks, recreation, fitness, and sports; transportation and planning; volunteer, non-profit, and faith-based; and public health.
Wack was facilitator for the education sector. She has taught at West Liberty University since 2011 and is an advocate for creating a greater focus on physical fitness in daily life.
“There is a national (physical activity) plan and two states have additional state plans, West Virginia is one of these. It is so important to make physical activity a priority. This group brought together participants from all walks of life to make it happen,” she said.
The groups worked on goals and objectives to create an action plan for fitness.
According to Harold “Bill” Kohl, research professor at the University of Texas, who attended and presented at the meeting, West Virginia and Texas are the only two states to have formal physical activity plans.
“It is expected that the plan’s implementation will increase the physical activity levels of West Virginians across the lifespan to meet or exceed national physical activity recommendations. This important outcome is dependent on the development of a culture that facilitates physically active lifestyles in every societal sector and geographic region.”
Kohl moderated a panel consisting of: E. Gordon Gee, WVU president; Rahul Gupta, commissioner of the state Bureau for Public Health; Michael Martirano, state superintendent of schools, and Ron Stollings, state senator for the 7th district.
Hudson too sees physical fitness as an essential part of wellness and an area that West Virginia needs to ramp up. She is an assistant professor of physical education and health at WLU.
The overarching GOAL of the WV Physical Activity Plan (WVPAP) is to provide a strategic direction to increase/maintain healthy physical activity levels of the citizens of WV through the development, implementation, and evaluation of an effective WV Physical Activity Plan that will facilitate sector input and collaboration, and guide policy and practice.
For more information on the Department of Health and Human Performance, located in the College of Education, please contact Dr. Rhonda Noble, professor of physical education and interim chair at 304-336-8237 or noblerho@westliberty.edu.