At a glance:

• The Windsor Early Childhood Education Center (WECEC) is the fourth Windsor-based organization to achieve Gold-level status in the Vermont Department of Health’s 3-4-50 Campaign.
• The Town of Windsor, Trinity Free Evangelical Church, and Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Care Center are other Windsor organizations to achieve the honor.
• To achieve Gold-level status, WECEC grew its own garden as a teaching tool, invited a chef and nutritionist to share their knowledge, and created a mindfulness program for employees.

The Windsor Early Childhood Education Center (WECEC) is the fourth Windsor-based organization to achieve Gold-level status in the Vermont Department of Health’s 3-4-50 Campaign. The 3-4-50 program highlights how three behaviors (physical inactivity, poor diet, and tobacco use) lead to four chronic diseases (cancer, heart disease and stroke, Type 2 diabetes, and lung disease) which result in more than 50 percent of the deaths in Vermont.

The Town of Windsor and Trinity Free Evangelical Church achieved Gold Level status in 2019, joining Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Care Center, which has held Gold Status since 2017.

Achieving Gold-level status demonstrates that an institution has a genuine commitment to promoting health and wellness and reducing chronic disease.

Makenzie Witzgall, Director of WECEC, says “Implementing programs and procedures that support early education and promote family and community involvement surrounding health and nutrition means doing our part to support a generational change for Vermonters’ health.”

The 3-4-50 Program has three commitment levels—Bronze, Silver and Gold—based on the number and scale of the wellness measures implemented. In order to achieve Gold Status, the WECEC incorporated many healthy activities into its program, including:

• Creating and maintaining a children’s vegetable garden as a teaching tool
• Inviting a chef and dietitian to show kids how to make healthy snacks from the food they’d grown
• Creating spaces for breastfeeding moms
• Role modelling healthy eating--staff eat the same food as kids, with kids
• Eliminating sugary drinks and offering water all day

The center’s wellness initiatives extend to families and staff. WECEC provided parent education on nutrition and physical activity for families. In addition, WECEC is enhancing a worksite wellness program for employees that includes mindfulness training.

On its road to achieving Gold Status, WECEC received two of RiseVT’s Amplify Grants in the past year. Amplify grants ranging from $250 to $1,500 are awarded to community partners who further RiseVT’s mission to embrace healthy lifestyles.

To learn more about the 3-4-50 program, contact Kate Roome, RN, Public Health Nurse for the Vermont Dept. of Health, at kate.roome@vermont.gov or (802) 289-0548.

Photo caption: Kate Roome, RN (left) Public Health Nurse, Vermont Department of Health with Makenzie Witzgall, (right) Director of Windsor Early Childhood Education Center