Bristol Community College students at the Fall River campus on Elsbree Street will have an opportunity to learn about health promotion first hand from local experts during the Fall 2013 semester. About twenty students have enrolled in a survey of health topics to learn how the health of an individual affects the community and how the health of the community affects the individual, Expertise on local approaches to creating a healthy community will be offered by Dr. David Weed, Amanda Raposa of Southcoast Hospitals will present on food security, Fall River Mass In Motion Coordinator Julie Kelly will talk about recreation and the environment, Anne Marie Sharkey and Kim Ferrara will talk about physical fitness, SSTAR Youth Coordinator Mike Aguiar will talk about prevention of substance abuse, Christian McCloskey will present on safety and violence prevention, and Angie Bras will present on worksite wellness and smoking cessation. During the course, students will also be responsible for completing ten hours of community service in an organization operating within Healthy City Fall River. At the end of the course, the students will hold a "Healthy City Fall River Fair" for the entire Fall River campus. The course was videotaped and is on-line for future semesters. For more information about the course, contact Janice Velozo at 508-730-9289. (Photos courtesy of Fall River Community Media staff)

(Top row) Course instructor Janice Velozo welcomes the class to the course before introducing Dr. Weed who presents an overview of Partners for a Healthier Community, Inc. and the origins of the Healthy City Fall River project. (Middle row) Dr. Weed reviews the Healthy Community Principles of the World Health Organization upon which the Massachusetts Healthy Communities approach is based before pointing out CHNA 25 that includes Fall River, Somerset, Swansea and Westport. (Bottom row) Dr. Weed engages students in some discussion of how to help a community that can support individual change toward health.

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