The Center on Aging recently granted funding for “Healthy U” workshops to be implemented in Wyoming organizations.
The funding opportunity includes six grants of $5,000 each to organizations that prove they can implement the Healthy U workshops with accuracy and sustainability.
“We were in a position where this program, the Healthy U program, has existed in the state for about 6-7 years and we were trucking along pretty solidly up until the start of the pandemic,” Project coordinator Larry Goodwin said.
“We ended up in a position where we really just hadn’t been providing this program as much, with as much frequency, as we would have wanted to,” Goodwin said. “Now that restrictions are easing and people are coming back out into the world, we’re really hoping to re-engage the state.”
Healthy U, a program aimed at educating and helping those with chronic diseases, will work with selected organizations to implement the workshops into their organization.
Healthy U uses evidence-based practices to help those with chronic diseases manage their diseases.
“One of the prime things that every organization is going to get with this workshop is increased engagement within their community,” Goodwin said. “We also see, in that same vein, interesting relationships develop between all the moving parts of one of these workshops.”
UW’s Retail Dining Manager, Scott Strannigan shared his thoughts on the workshops.
“Right now, I’m 54, and I should be taking advantage of programs like this,” Strannigan said. “I love the awareness and the opportunity for people who have an illness or disease, they have a resource.”
“I think a lot of people have alot of questions related to their health and are either too scared to ask or too scared to go see a doctor and have to pay for the expenses,” Strannigan said.
The six-week workshop teaches those with chronic diseases how to receive support from others with chronic disease, develop strategies for dealing with pain, learn about healthy eating, create exercise programs that work with their chronic disease, understand options with new treatments, and learn how to talk with their doctors about their patients.
The Healthy U workshops are scheduled for every Tuesday between 2:30-5p.m. and will continue until Mar. 22.
Workshops are open to any individual over the age of 18 and are always free for participants, no matter the number of times one has participated.
