AUSTIN – Alice Kirk, a child health and wellness specialist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in College Station, has been chosen to receive a 2014 Texas Health Champion Award.
The award is presented by the Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, The University of Texas School of Public Health and the Live Smart Texas Coalition. It will be given to Kirk at the 2014 Texas Health Champions Ceremony Sept. 9 to take place at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin.
According to event coordinators, the award is presented in conjunction with Texas Obesity Awareness Week, established in 2007 during the 80th Legislative Session by House Bill 2313.
As part of the state’s obesity awareness week, the Texas Health Champion Award is presented to an individual and an organization demonstrating “exemplary achievement in reducing the burden and/or raising awareness of the obesity epidemic in Texas.” Recipients are identified as those who have “mobilized community efforts to prevent and reduce obesity and promote physical activity and nutritional health through research, practice, policy development, social marketing, behavioral interventions or innovative partnerships.”
In her award nomination, Kirk was cited for leading numerous activities to reduce obesity across the state during her more than 16 years with AgriLife Extension. In collaboration with the Department of State Health Services’ Texans Putting Prevention to Work project, she engaged diverse community groups and schools in eight Texas counties to create effective policy and environmental changes. She also has served on more than 20 health-oriented committees in Texas and across the nation.
“I personally feel that this award belongs to all the hardworking, committed individuals and organizations which I have had the pleasure to collaborate with on a variety of projects over my 16-plus years with AgriLife Extension,” Kirk said. “This recognition ideally speaks to and represents the strong agency and community partnerships across the state seeking support for health improvement. I’m excited to support and participate in projects promoting a lifetime of health through the power of prevention.”
In her nomination, Kirk also was singled out for her work as the volunteer chair for Texas Action for Healthy Kids, part of national Action for Healthy Kids, a Chicago-based public-private partnership of more than 50 organizations dedicated to promoting health in schools.
“Alice has been the volunteer chair for TAHK for the past three years, taking over at a crucial time for our organization and bringing leadership, stability and commitment to our 3,500-plus member state team,” wrote Michelle Smith, state coordinator of the Action for Healthy Kids organization in Texas in her letter supporting the nomination. “Alice has infused our leadership team with new energy and enthusiasm. She has recognized the value of collaboration, uniting different organizations to share resources and support each other as we work together on child health issues.”
The nomination also praised Kirk for “her passion for serving populations with the greatest health disparities,” including underserved, limited resource, Spanish-speaking-only families in the state.
In a letter of support, Dr. Carol Rice, Kirk’s supervisor and AgriLife Extension health specialist and program leader in College Station, noted that Kirk recently led a Community Transformation Grant project for which she worked closely with a county AgriLife Extension agent in South Texas and team of colleagues to form the Working on Wellness coalition.
“Using the Institute of Medicine model for preventing obesity, she helped the coalition significantly improve access to healthy food and physical activity and pass a new smoke-free ordinance in a community without one,” Rice wrote. “A community assessment identified the food deserts in Starr County. Nine gardens were created and maintained in or near the food deserts, and 7,124 pounds of produce were harvested from these gardens.The coalition also instituted a mobile farmers market, which has reached over 10,000 residents and has sold over 46,000 pounds of produce in identified food deserts.”
Rice also noted that Kirk’s coalition leadership helped toward the reclamation and renovation of two parks and the addition of five walking trails. Safety was improved at the parks by adding lights, which together with community cleanups, fencing and gates, greatly increased the number of people being active in the parks and walking on the trails.
“Playscapes were positioned in the center of walking trails so parents could walk while their children played,” Rice stated in her support letter. “Benches were added. County commissioners and other community members such as electrical contractors contributed materials, equipment and labor to make the improvements. Trees added shade and improved aesthetics.”
Rice also noted that prior to the Starr County project Kirk had led a similar initiative, Communities Putting Prevention to Work, in eight counties.
In the award nomination, Kirk was also touted for her agency work with the Balancing Food and Play program, a program coordinator for the Better Living for Texans Program, her work in the Transforming Texas and Communities Putting Prevention to Work projects, and her work with the eight-week Walk Across Texas physical activity program.
Kirk also has earned a Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence for her diversity efforts from The Texas A&M University System and a Superior Service Award by AgriLife Extension. In 2010, she was asked to chair the Diverse and Underserved Populations Council for the National Rural Health Association.
-30-