By Maria Ratliff
Winona Daily News
A new round of funding from Minnesota’s Statewide Health Improvement Program was announced earlier this week, awarding Winona County more than $377,000 for health initiatives over the next two years.
It’s the fourth grant cycle for the program, called SHIP, and leaders in Winona County said the funding boost will continue ongoing work as well as new projects.
SHIP focuses on better eating and physical activity, along with tobacco cessation, to reduce the cost of preventable chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer statewide. More than 27 percent of adults in Minnesota are obese, and about 14 percent of them smoke, leading to increased healthcare costs.
So far in Winona County, SHIP funding has had a quiet but far-reaching impact, said Andrea Gierok, one of the coordinators of the program.
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