Jamestown, ND (KCSi-T.V. News) — The New Year, New You Wellness Challenge 2013 is accepting registrations through January 6, 2013.

 

On Thursday’s (Dec 27, 2012) Wayne Byers Show on CSi Cable 2, organizer, Emily Kjelland said, the program is a community wide 6 week Wellness challenge that encourages participants to exercise and make healthy lifestyle changes in addition to promoting health awareness and enhancing education.

 

2013 is the 6th year of sponsoring the program.

 

The mission is to make Jamestown the healthiest city in North Dakota.

 

Participants create teams and gain points for healthy activities. Points are then reported weekly to the appointed team leader.

 

The team’s averaged point total is reported and ranked amongst competing teams weekly in the Jamestown Sun as well as online.

New Year New You is for all residents in the Jamestown area.

 

There are 3 divisions: Large Business, Small Business, and Friends and Family. A small business is 15 or fewer participants; a large business is over 16 participants. We had 535 participants last year and hope to get more on-board this year!

The goals of this program are to motivate the citizens of Jamestown to make lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, tobacco use and to assist each individual to attain their highest health potential.

 

Inspiring stories come forth each year from our participating teams!

 

The sponors include: JRMC, Orriginals, ND Farmers Union Insurance, White Drug, Redlin Johnson, DuraTech, and Agri Cover.

 

This year’s community challenge is also supported by the BCBS UND Rural Health: Recess Partnership grant. The James River Family YMCA and Jamestown Regional Medical Center partnered to apply for the grant with 2 goals in mind: to increase opportunities for Stutsman County residents to engage in physical activities regardless of ability to pay as well as increase physical activity of youth, general workforce and seniors.

 

In conjunction with the partnership, each NYNY participant will get an 11 day punch card to the YMCA to be used for group classes, Fitness on Demand, and general use of the facility.

 

Participants gain points each day by eating 5 fruits and vegetables as well as accumulating minutes of physical activity. Additionally, each week corresponds with a focus to get participants thinking about different aspects of health and wellness. There will be an article in the Jamestown Sun each week highlighting that week’s topic. There are no videos to watch this year. A new aspect is that there will be an optional workout prepared each week for those looking to learn new ways to exercise or add variety to their current routines. We have nutrition tracking challenges prepared as an opportunity to gain even more points each week. A new addition for this year is partnering with the Community Health Assessment – Community Health Improvement Plan to decrease distracted driving. One point per day can be earned by wearing a seat belt and not using your cell phone as you drive.

 

With the weekly topics there is a Nutrition focus this year. Weekly topics include: Hydration, Portion Control & Calorie Counting, Fat, Fiber, Sodium, and Sugar.

 

The cost is $8 per participant for the 2013 NYNY dry-fit T-shirt. This is a non-profit challenge through the JRMC Wellness Center.

Go to

www.jrmcnd.com to access registration forms for each of the 3 divisions. Additional information can be found on the JRMC website.

Once your group is together, and money collected, the paperwork and one check can be brought to the Wellness Center. Weekly points are submitted online at

www.jrmcnd.com each week. Points will be tracked and submitted to the Jamestown Sun to be printed every Thursday along with an article that ties into the weekly focus. To sign up please visit www.jrmcnd.com. Deadline is Sunday January 6th