Being Healthy Counts
Faith-based initiative in Alamance County

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Being Healthy Counts to H.I.M. (Health Improvement Ministry) is an innovative, faith-based diabetes prevention program that was created by Healthy Alamance when a single church member asked for assistance in alleviating diabetes among members of her African-American congregation. The program is based on the lay-health advisor model, which uses natural leaders recruited from a given group of people and then trains them to work with members of that group.

For the Being Healthy Counts to H.I.M. project, Healthy Alamance recruited 30 leaders from three African-American churches to attend an eight-week training course that emphasized diabetes prevention through education, nutritional counseling and increased physical activity. These trained leaders then organized classes for 90 individuals at their churches during which they taught their fellow church members to take control of their own health by making good daily decisions about nutrition and exercise.

Being Healthy Counts to H.I.M. has a large impact on the people who participate in the program, because it utilizes an existing and valued support system to encourage positive lifestyle changes. These lifestyle changes lead to the development of healthy behaviors that are sustainable over long periods of time.

Because each church and each group operates independently, the program can be tailored to fit the needs, culture, and values of each church and its individual members. For instance, one church chose to gather menus from several restaurants and had class participants select foods based on their old lifestyle choices, and then choose options based on what they had learned in class. A second church chose to supplement one of the nutrition sessions with visual props that illustrated how much sugar and fat are contained in foods commonly eaten by participants.

Because the program is run by trained volunteers and is inexpensive to operate, it is easier to sustain. Two of the churches were so pleased at the positive feedback and results from the first class that they have scheduled a second round of Being Healthy Counts to H.I.M. in the spring of 2006. They have even incorporated the cost of program incentives into the annual budgets of their churches.

Being Healthy Counts to H.I.M. is innovative because it is proven through National Institute of Health (NIH) research; broad enough to capture the values and culture of a church community; and still flexible enough to allow a group leader to address the needs of individual participants. Because the program recruits well-known group leaders from each congregation, the level of trust in the program among participants is high.