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Swain Summits logo
Jessica Webb
editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com
No matter where you’re starting from, it helps to have support when you want to acheive your health goals. That’s where Swain Summits, a free community-wide health & wellness program available to both Swain County residents and those who work in the county, comes in.
The first program kicked off back in August 2019 and it has continued since, helping people achieve health and wellness goals.
Registration is open now-Jan. 31 for a six-month virtual program. The next year-long program will be this summer beginning with blood work in May, health screenings in June and the program to run from July-May.
Participants track seven daily points for the following: water consumption, fruit consumption, vegetable consumption, physical activity (30 minutes a day), stress reduction (15 minutes a day) and sleep (7-9 hours a day) through Challenge Runner.
“Nothing has changed about the program, except that we no longer have teams,” said Trish Hipgrave, program coordinator. “We continue to have monthly challenges that focus on our three priorities: mental health, nutrition and physical activity.”
Each month, there is a prize drawing for those who participate in the challenges, she added.
The program is supported by Swain Community Hospital, Mountain Wise, and Swain County Health Department.
Swain Summits has served as a model for other counties. Hipgrave said both Jackson and Haywood counties have started programs using the program as the foundation.
The latest program for 2020-2021 began with 70 participants and 44 finished, with most drawn away because of the pandemic.
Improvements and health benefits were seen in all areas. On nutrition, 6.36% reported they consumed 2-3 cups of vegetables a day and 50% consumed 1-2 cups of fruit. Just less than half met the flexibility requirements of 1-2 times a week for 30 minutes and 38.6% were physically active for at least 150 minutes a week. Half of the participants also reported coping with stress well.
On the greatest benefits from the program recently, Hipgrave shared how the screenings that also occur at the end of the program have been beneficial.
“This year, we added a full wellness panel and A1C to the screening, this helped many participants who had not been to see their MD since the pandemic started see their true health data and helped encourage them to make an appointments to see their MD,” she said.
The program has continued to improve with input at the end of the program. Those who have stuck with the program have given feedback such as, it gets better each year, and it really helps them stay motivated.
According to participant surveys, the main reason people want to participate is generally to be healthier. Some don’t finish the program but say the reasons are because they are too busy and overwhelmed by work during the pandemic.
The top two challenges this past year included: Halt the Salt and Sugar Scavenger Hunt.
Hipgrave said all the stress reduction challenges are popular as well.
Those interested in signing up for Swain Summits can contact Trish at trish.hipgrave@swaincountync.gov or call 488-3198.