Ponca City, December 2, 2020 – The TSET Healthy Living Program serving Kay County is asking for your input as it works toward creating healthier environments in Kay county.

Local residents can offer their opinions, concerns and insights by taking a community health needs assessment survey, said Jenny Creech, lead coordinator of the TSET Healthy Living Program grant in Kay County.

“Your experiences and opinions on health environments in our communities really matter and we want to hear from you,” Jenny said.

The survey can be accessed by visiting https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Kay_CommunitySurvey.

Improving the health of residents in targeted geographic locations throughout Oklahoma is a priority for a new TSET HLP five-year cycle that started on July 1, 2020. The Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust – TSET – awarded the grants to 35 lead agencies, including OSU Community Wellness, in spring 2020.

This grant’s first year is dedicated to gathering health-related data from U.S. Census information and other research-based sources, and by seeking local input from community partners and this health needs survey. That information will be used to create a localized data-driven plan to improve the long-term health of area residents.

“Hearing about your experiences with access to healthy foods and physical activity and to tobacco-free environments through this survey will help us create a comprehensive wellness plan that fits and works best locally in Kay County,” Jenny said.

In recent years, TSET had invested about $1,020,500 in Kay County during the Healthy Living Program’s first cycle, which worked with city, school and business leaders and community organizations to adopt tobacco-free and wellness policies and improve health environments, and another $84,000 to local schools and communities through Healthy Communities and Healthy Schools Incentive Grants.

TSET also supports lifesaving research at the Stephenson Cancer Center, the TSET Health Promotion Research Center and the Oklahoma Center for Adult Stem Cell Research. Studies show that TSET funding over the years has contributed to saving at least 42,000 lives and more than $1.2 billion in direct medical costs in Oklahoma.

For more information about the community needs survey or the TSET Healthy Living Program, contact Jenny Creech at jenny.creech@okstate.du or (580) 765-2476.