It's a Beautiful Day for the Nature Trail!

This time of year is one of the most beautiful on Takoma’s Creation Health Nature Trail! Be sure to take advantage of it by setting aside time in your schedule to hike it with family members, friends, co-workers or even pets. Tracey Ayers, one of our fabulous coaches, and I were out there last week and I was so pleased to see so many different ages and groups of people using it. Next month Bob Kamieneski, Takoma's Wellness Director, and I will be giving Greene County high school students tours of it, and I will definitely be taking my boys on it again as soon as school is out!

On that note, I cannot believe April is quickly coming to an end and school will be out next month! This week I completed my final visit to Tusculum View for the year.  I have enjoyed being there twice a month teaching the kiddos how to be healthy and happy using the CREATION acronym along with interactive games and videos. I will miss seeing those sweet faces this summer!

I hope everyone is having a great week and taking advantage of this beautiful weather!

About the Author: Erin Franklin is the Creation Health Coordinator for Greene County, the Head Volleyball Coach at Greeneville High School and the Founder/Director at Worthy of the Prize Sports Ministries. Erin has a BBA in Marketing and Management from TCU and a Masters of Christian Education in Church Recreation from Southwestern Seminary. She is a published, award-winning author and poet. Purchase her book Worthy of the Prize Sports Camps: A Church's Guide to Implementing an Effective, Community-Reaching Christian Sports Camp to be used as an outreach tool for your church or mission organization, and her ebook find joy in the journey: how 12 women could face tomorrow just because He lives for inspiring stories of women who found overwhelming joy despite their circumstances. Erin is the wife of Aaron, the Minister of Music & Senior Adults at FBC Greeneville, and the momma of 2 sons, Anderson and EJ. Click here for full bio.

Tip of the Month!

We have some exciting new things going on around here these days! One of those things is our Monthly Newsletter, which contains a wellness Tip of the Month!

Our newsletter entitled Creation Health News circulates the hospital each month and in it, I report what has been going on with Creation Health as well as feature one of our fabulous coaches who has done a great job promoting the monthly wellness tip in their department.

Last month our tip was as follows:

As Easter approaches, make prayer a priority. A study of 560 households has shown that people who pray are happier, more satisfied and enjoy a deeper sense of well-being about the directions their lives are headed. Talking things through with God can help make situations clear. Today, make prayer your first response to a difficult situation. Not sure how to start? Begin by praising God for who He is and by thanking Him for your many blessings.

The above picture shows how Laurann Pierce promoted T - Trust in her unit at Takoma, by making these colorful Easter crosses and encouraging her co-workers to write what they are thankful for on each one. They now hang in the front office of Urgent Care/Industricare as a beautiful reminder of God's daily blessings!

For the month of April, our wellness tip is as follows:

As the days get longer and summer approaches, make exercise a priority in your schedule. Physical activity (also known as “The Fountain of Youth”) has been proven to prevent disease and enhance your quality of life. Today, try to be more active by parking farther away, by taking a 10 minute walk with a friend on your lunch break, or by adding strength-training to your workout routine.

I look forward to seeing what our coaches come up with this month to promote A - Activity!

As always, I am having a great time working with the kiddos at Tusculum View twice a month, teaching them how to be healthy and happy using the CREATION acronym along with fun, interactive games and videos. We are thankful for the gorgeous weather that has been allowing us to go outside during our last few times together!

Happy Spring, friends! Let's all add more active minutes and outside time to our daily routine! Who's with me?

About the Author: Erin Franklin is the Creation Health Coordinator for Greene County, the Head Volleyball Coach at Greeneville High School and the Founder/Director at Worthy of the Prize Sports Ministries. Erin has a BBA in Marketing and Management from TCU and a Masters of Christian Education in Church Recreation from Southwestern Seminary. She is a published, award-winning author and poet. Purchase her book Worthy of the Prize Sports Camps: A Church's Guide to Implementing an Effective, Community-Reaching Christian Sports Camp to be used as an outreach tool for your church or mission organization, and her ebook find joy in the journey: how 12 women could face tomorrow just because He lives for inspiring stories of women who found overwhelming joy despite their circumstances. Erin is the wife of Aaron, the Minister of Music & Senior Adults at FBC Greeneville, and the momma of 2 sons, Anderson and EJ. Click here for full bio.

Soda Sales Down, Water Sales Up!

The Takoma Regional Hospital Surrender Your Soda Challenge was a success! Reports from the Takoma Café reveal that since we began the No Soda Challenge, soda sales have taken a significant dive! In fact, soda sales have decreased 35% and even more exciting, water sales have gone up. 

We had 103 participants at Takoma who completed the No Soda Challenge for the month of February and we are very pleased with this turnout the first time around! In addition, one of our awesome Creation Health coaches' Jennie Smith (who happens to be the Assistant Girls Softball Coach at Greeneville High School) challenged her softball team to take the No Soda Challenge with us. She had 16 girls participate, along with head coach Bob Fortel. Everyone said that they enjoyed the challenge and that even though it is “over” they are going to continue to do it! Many of them said that they had lost anywhere from 2-6 pounds and they weren’t craving junk food anymore!

Also, congratulations to our fitness prize winners: Laura Crum, Kim Kishbaugh, Kassie Lawson, Bethany Martin, Laura Walther, Sharon Hensley & Christina Greene! Let’s keep the challenge going by continuing to decrease our soda intake while increasing our water intake. One of the simplest tricks for drinking more water is to keep a bottle of it on your desk. It’s easy to take a swig regularly if you’ve got water in arm’s reach – and if you keep the cap on the bottle, there’s no chance of a spillage!

About the Author: Erin Franklin is the Creation Health Coordinator for Greene County, the Head Volleyball Coach at Greeneville High School and the Founder/Director at Worthy of the Prize Sports Ministries. Erin has a BBA in Marketing and Management from TCU and a Masters of Christian Education in Church Recreation from Southwestern Seminary. She is a published, award-winning author and poet. Purchase her book Worthy of the Prize Sports Camps: A Church's Guide to Implementing an Effective, Community-Reaching Christian Sports Camp to be used as an outreach tool for your church or mission organization, and her ebook find joy in the journey: how 12 women could face tomorrow just because He lives for inspiring stories of women who found overwhelming joy despite their circumstances. Erin is the wife of Aaron, the Minister of Music & Senior Adults at FBC Greeneville, and the momma of 2 sons, Anderson and EJ. Click here for full bio.