Seeds of Health

“Planting the Seeds of Change for Healthier South Carolinians”

The Seeds of Health Group of the Low Country DLI partnered with EdVenture Children’s Museum and Novo Nordisk to develop a series of family engagement outreach events focused on diabetes prevention and awareness in a targeted community as a pilot project.  The Seeds of Hope group plans to replicate this model and to share these resources with other communities in South Carolina where group members reside.

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in South Carolina and approximately one in seven African Americans in South Carolina are living with diabetes.  One in every ten visits to an emergency room is related to a complication related to diabetes in our state.  This collaborative effort targeted the 29203 zip code in Columbia, SC which leads the nation in the greatest number of below the knee amputations due to diabetes.  In this community in 2010 inpatient and ER expenditures were 254 Million Dollars ($7,000+ per resident annually).

Novo Nordisk provided EdVenture Children’s Museum in Columbia, SC with a $15,000 grant to develop an educational series of family engagement outreach events.  The team leading this work is meeting with community members in a community center that is owned and operated by the Columbia Housing Authority.  The goal of the series to provide high quality health education and increase accessibility to health education to community members through: healthy cooking classes and nutrition education opportunities; a time for children and their parents to learn healthy cooking practices in a hands-on environment; education about food ingredients and their health benefits; community events (Celebrity Chef, Eddie’s Block Party 2015, etc.); diabetes screening; certified Diabetes educators as a resource; the development of a community garden and after school programming infused with health education.