New Sequim coalition advocates healthy start with Ready, Set, Go 5210! initiative

Gayle Stewart greets youths at the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Healthy Community Coalition kickoff event last weekend in Sequim. (Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group)

Gayle Stewart greets youths at the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Healthy Community Coalition kickoff event last weekend in Sequim. (Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group)

SEQUIM — The shift is on.

Members of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Healthy Community Coalition welcomed interested community members of all ages to their health initiative kickoff at the Sequim Civic Center on Saturday.

The project aims to engage and inspire the Sequim-Dungeness community to make a cultural shift toward improved health.

Monica Dixon, the Healthy Community Coalition co-chair, is a registered dietitian and health psychologist.

She said one of the great things about living in a small town is that residents can script their own future.

“I love this town. It’s a wonderful time to tell a new story,” she said.

Ready, Set, Go 5210!

The health initiative Ready, Set, Go 5210! is a nationally recognized approach to health centered on five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, two hours or less of recreational screen time, one hour of physical activity and zero sugar-sweetened beverages — hence the 5, 2, 1 and 0.

The program “is not an end-all,” Dixon said. “It’s a means to begin the conversation.”

She said program supporters hope to see the health initiative promoted throughout the community.

Unlike in Kitsap and Pierce counties where the 5210 programs target specific age groups, the smaller size of the Sequim-Dungeness area allows the initiative to be applied community-wide, Dixon said.

Dr. Chris Frank, Clallam County health officer, noted that the U.S. ranks dead last among the 11 wealthiest nations in health outcomes despite spending more than any other on medical care.

Poor diet, inactive lifestyles and tobacco use are the primary culprits, Frank said.

Just 1 in 4 residents of Clallam County meet the Ready, Set, Go 5210! standard, Frank said, and half of the county’s residents are overweight or obese.

He added that nationally, young people are getting about seven hours of recreational “screen time” (television, computers, etc.) per day and adults are at five hours per day.

“It’s easy to get discouraged,” Frank told the crowd Saturday, but he noted that the life expectancy for the average American is approaching 80 years.

Frank also noted impressive strides Americans have made in the past century — greatly reducing the numbers of deaths by pneumonia, tuberculosis and infectious diarrhea, the biggest killers at one time — and even since the 1960s, by reducing percentages of habitual smoking from 50 percent to less than 20 percent.

Social change

“That social change [in tobacco use] drove policy change,” Frank said.

“We need cultural norms to change in our homes, schools and workplaces.”

At the kickoff, attendees received tools and activities on how to incorporate the initiative; had light, healthy snacks from local restaurant Nourish; and enjoyed entertainment.

The Sequim-Dungeness Valley Healthy Community Coalition is a collaborative effort.

Members include the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula, city of Sequim, Clallam County Department of Health and Human Services, Dungeness Valley Health & Wellness Clinic, Molina Health Care, Nourish, Olympic Community View Foundation, Olympic Medical Center, Sequim Food Bank, Sequim School District, Shipley Center and Olympic Peninsula YMCA.

________

Michael Dashiell is an editor with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mdashiell@sequimgazette.com.

More in News

Carissa Guiley of Silverdale, left, along with daughters Mia Guiley, 5, and Evelyn Guiley, 8, peer over a rocky bluff at a sea stack in Crescent Bay on Saturday near Port Crescent. The family was on an outing at Salt Creek County Recreation Area. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
What’s over the edge?

Carissa Guiley of Silverdale, left, along with daughters Mia Guiley, 5, and… Continue reading

Examiner approves Habitat project

Wetland buffer limits size to 45 units

Sequim caps municipal funding for next year’s budget

Council members share concerns about deadlines, limits

KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
June Ward, 10, examines a wooden paddle she is decorating as her father, Jack Ward of Port Angeles, works on his own paddle during a craft-making session on Friday at the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center in Port Angeles. The paddles are among the thousands of gifts being created for participants in the 2025 Tribal Canoe Journey, hosted this year by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. The event begins with the landing of dozens of native canoes at the mouth of the Elwha River on July 31 and continues with five days of celebration on the Lower Elwha reservation west of Port Angeles. As many as 10,000 indigenous peoples are expected to take part. The public is invited to help with giftmaking sessions, scheduled daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Heritage Center.
Canoe paddle crafts

June Ward, 10, examines a wooden paddle she is decorating as her… Continue reading

Ralph Henry Keil and Ginny Grimm.
Long lost sailor to be honored at graduation

An honorary diploma will be presented to the family of… Continue reading

Singers to workshop vocal instruments at Fort Worden

One hundred and fifty singers to join together in song

Jefferson County fire danger risk level to move to high

Designation will prohibit fireworks over Fourth of July weekend

Candidate forums to be presented next week

The League of Women Voters of Clallam County and… Continue reading

Port Townsend City Council candidate forum set for next month

The League of Women Voters of Jefferson County will… Continue reading

Jefferson County to host series of community conversations

Jefferson County will conduct a series of Community Conversations… Continue reading

Denise Thornton of Sequim deadheads roses on a flower display at the Sequim Botanical Garden at the Water Reuse Demonstration Park at Carrie Blake Park on Wednesday in Sequim. Thornton, a volunteer gardener, was taking part in a work party to maintain the beauty of the garden. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Rose display

Denise Thornton of Sequim deadheads roses on a flower display at the… Continue reading