By Jamie Shuster

If you’ve been following the news this week, you know it’s been an exciting week for the agency. On Wednesday, DHEC Director Catherine Templeton joined the SC Obesity Council in launching our state’s first-ever obesity action plan. The new plan details both long- and short-term strategies that can be immediately implemented to begin reducing the rate of obesity here in the Palmetto State.

During the launch event at the State Farmers Market, we also introduced South Carolinians to scaledown.org – a new, collaborative initiative designed to engage and mobilize stakeholders across the state in implementing the strategies laid out in the new action plan.

Wednesday’s event was not only a chance to celebrate the release of the new action plan, it also marked the official transition from talking about what we’re going to do to address South Carolina’s obesity problem over the last two years to taking coordinated action to help our state begin to scale down.

The successful launch of scaledown.org and the new obesity action plan couldn’t have happened without the help of a dedicated team of DHEC staffers who worked with our partners to plan this event. Thank you to Jennifer Read for leading this effort for us, and to Suzanne Sanders and Sally Foster for assisting in planning the overall event logistics. Also, a special thank you to Mark Plowden and Cassie Harris for providing their communications expertise in preparing for the event, as well as to Barbara Grice, Shauna Hicks and Rebecca Wrenn for working with our partners to help them showcase their obesity prevention efforts through interactive exhibits.

And thank you to the following staff who also lent their time and talents to help make the event a success:

Kim Kreidler
Lynn Hammond
Ashley Raasch
Shorus Manning
Phyllis Allen
Carmen Thompson
Barbara Grice
Michelle Harris
Anthony Doyle
Mike Bobo
Jim Beasley
Rhonda Hill
Michelle Moody
Teresa Robinson
Sarah Smith
Lavell Thornton
Karen Rucker
Tiffany Mack
Nancy Schaefer
Marlo Thomas-Koger
Lori Phillips
Teresa Hill
Misty Pearson

I encourage everyone to take a few minutes and visit scaledown.org to learn more about the new action plan. Please also share the site on your social networks to help us spread the word about the great work we’re doing with our partners to move the needle on obesity in our state.