Central Pennsylvania families now have additional free resources to help strengthen their physical and mental resiliency. The resources are part of a new campaign intended to help residents in the region cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Together, WITF, Capital BlueCross, and WellSpan Health have launched Here With You, a special Transforming Health campaign that includes the distribution of 3,600 family resource packs, free access to a mobile app to help manage mental wellness, a 12-week community walking challenge, and a special Transforming Health Summer Read to focus on health and mental resiliency.
Over a period of three weeks, seven school districts with active meal distribution efforts planned to give Transforming Health Here With You resource packs to families at their regular grab-and-go meal distribution sites. Each bag contains supplies and information for children to help spark creativity and encourage them to stay healthy at home this summer. Supplies include a range of tools that students may not have at home, such as colored pencils, a pencil sharpener, a ruler and a glue stick. Each pack also contains an activity sheet, wellness information, and a first aid kit, lip balm or hand sanitizer. To encourage healthy activities as a family, children will receive a seed packet and planting instruction card.
Additionally, 3,500 Here With You family resource packs will be distributed among York city, Gettysburg, Lebanon, Lancaster city, Harrisburg and Chambersburg school districts.
The Here With You campaign also provides free registration for myStrength, a behavioral health mobile app offering support for managing depression, anxiety, stress, sleep and more. The myStrength app and http://www.mystrength.com offer innovative self-care resources to improve a user's positive outlook and help the user to overcome challenges. Users can track their health, participate in interactive activities and watch videos.
Through Here With You, free registration on myStrength is available by visiting http://www.transforminghealth.org or downloading the myStrength mobile app through the App Store or Google Play. Participants may register by entering the access code "TransformingHealth." It is private and secure, and it can be customized to user preferences.
The Here With You campaign also features the free, 12-week To the Moon & Back Walking Challenge for people of all ages in central Pennsylvania. The initiative began on June 15 and will continue through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7. It encourages participants to walk in honor of those on the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis: essential workers, health care staff, first responders and others. Each week, a participant will be randomly selected to receive a prize package. At the end of the challenge, a $500 donation will be made to two nonprofits chosen by the individual and team winners.
It will take a combined 1,008,923,520 steps to walk the distance to the moon and back, according to Heather Woolridge, WITF's director of community engagement. Participants are encouraged to complete at least 7,000 to 8,000 steps per day to meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendation of at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week. Participants may register at http://www.transforminghealth.org.
Lastly, the Here With You campaign will include the eighth annual A Summer Read, a community partnership of WITF's Transforming Health, Aligning Forces for Quality, and southcentral Pennsylvania library systems with additional support from WellSpan Health and Capital BlueCross.
Details for the Transforming Health Here With You campaign are available at http://www.transforminghealth.org.
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