I-WALK: An Innovative Approach to Community Walkability

One way of combating rising obesity rates and decreasing physical activity levels among children is to promote active transportation to and from schools. The award-winning I-WALK program provides a comprehensive framework for addressing community walkability and related infrastructure. The program uses a unique and innovative methodology that combines volunteer data collection workshops; classroom-based teacher tallies; and a dynamic Web-based survey that brings parents and children together to discuss school transportation issues. The program\u27s success demonstrates the benefits of coalition-building and community-based participatory research approaches to designing healthy and safe local environments

Gaps in Safe Food Handling Practices of Older Adults

We identified gaps in safe food handling practices that may be placing older adults at increased risk of food-borne illness. A convenience sample of 1,019 older adults completed the Food Safety Behavior Questionnaire. Majority groups among participants were those who were female, those who were White, and those who were widowed. Participants had lower adherences to safe practices related to temperature control, attention to sell-by/use-by dates on food packages, and cross-contamination. Adherences were significantly (p \u3c .05) influenced by gender, race/ethnicity, age, marital status, and education. Our findings suggest the need for older adult–focused safe food handling education related to temperature control, product selection practices, and cross-contamination