The first of two rollout events for the Lawrence County Live Healthy, Live Well Challenge will take place this week.

Both events will be at noon; the first on Friday at Ohio University Southern’s Proctorville Center and the second on Wednesday, April 2 in the Caucus Room at OUS in Ironton.

The initiative, which is co-sponsored by Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital, Ironton aLive and the Ohio State University Extension, is part of the 2014 Spring Wellness Challenge and is a free, six-week online email challenge designed to help participants improve their health by encouraging physical activity, enjoying healthy foods and practicing sound fitness suggestions.

“The goal of the rollout events is to get businesses on board,” Diva Justice, Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital director of community health initiatives, said. “Once they are signed up we hope they continue on to the fall wellness plan and the winter no-gain plan. The lunch-and-learns will also be used as an opportunity for businesses that have signed up to work more on planning and wellness consulting.”

Those who sign up will receive two weekly e-communications from Ohio State University Extension containing research based nutrition, health and fitness information. Additional tracking logs will be available for download to help participants document their progress. A pre and post-assessment online survey will be used to gather comments to improve future challenges and track members’ progress. All collected data will be kept confidential.

Participants will learn about adding more vegetables and fruits to their diet, finding more ways to move, trying new recipes, visiting local food outlets, planting herbs, vegetables and fruits in a container or plot garden, seasoning with herbs instead of salt and wearing sun protection every day.

Businesses and individuals are invited to sign up by going to http://go.osu.edu/SpLawrence. After being enrolled e-communications will begin in early April.

Questions can be directed to Assistant Professor, Field Specialist, Food Nutrition and Wellness for Ohio State University Extension Dan Remley at Remley.4@osu.edu or 740-289-2071 ext. 241.

To attend a rollout event, please RSVP to Justice by calling 606-833-3106 or emailing diva_justice@bshsi.org by March 19 for the Proctorville event and by March 25 for the event in Ironton.