Tag Archives: health

Riverside Parks & Recreation Receives Two Awards of Excellence

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The City of Riverside, Parks Recreation & Community Services Department (PRCSD) received two Awards of Excellence from the California Park & Recreation Society (CPRS) this week at the 2013 California and Pacific Southwest Recreation and Park Training Conference in San Jose, CA.

DalesSrCenterRiverside is recognized for the Facility Design of Dales Senior Center Renovation Project in the category of Community Centers/Mixed Use Facilities and for the 2012 Mariachi Festival in the category of Marketing and Communications – Marketing Campaign.

According to Ralph Nunez, Riverside PRCSD Director, “The CPRS awards program is the highest recognition our agency can receive and our award is a credit to the Council, staff, TR Design Group and volunteers that made this happen. We are honored to receive this award on behalf of our residents.”

The City of Riverside, Dales Senior Center Expansion Project embodies the CPRS “Parks Make Life Better!” campaign.  The new 10,500 SF space is a place for the community to gather, exercise, interact with nature, learn new skills and make new connections.

Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey said, “The new Dales Senior Center space and programs should inspire seniors to take advantage of our state of the art facilities and become more ‘Fit Fresh & Fun‘.”

The marketing campaign award recognized Riverside’s promotion of the Riverside Mariachi Festival — noting Riverside’s promotional materials and the partnerships with community groups, other agencies and businesses.

CPRS Executive Director Jane H. Adams states, “These agencies represent the finest in recreation programming and community wide initiatives, park planning, facility design, and marketing and communications in California. Park and recreation agencies throughout the state provide families, individuals, and groups access to the serenity and inspiration of nature; spaces and places for play and exercise; opportunities for directed and self-directed recreation; positive alternatives for youth to reduce crime and mischief; and activities that facilitate social connections, human development, therapy, the arts, and lifelong learning. CPRS and the award sponsors, Rain Bird, Little Tikes Commercial Play Systems, and RJM Design Group, Inc., are proud to recognize the excellent parks, recreation programs, services and facilities provided to Californians.”

The California Park & Recreation Society presented awards in 5 categories:

  • Creating Community Award of Excellence
  • Excellence in Design – Park Planning
  • Excellence in Design – Facility Design
  • Marketing & Communications Award of Excellence
  • Professional & Service 

The two recognitions further demonstrate Riverside’s commitment to increasing the quality of life for all residents through recreation, gathering, health and fitness facilities and programs.

Riverside Agencies Partner to Promote Healthy Eating Habits

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Good nutrition and healthy diets are both core contributing factors to the overall quality of life of an individual, as well as a community.  In an effort to help educate and promote better eating options for lower-income working families, Riverside agencies have partnered up in developing a new series of cooking videos that show how to prepare nutritious meals on a tight budget.

Riverside Unified School District recorded the videos for the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services in cooperation with the county Department of Public Health, FIND Food Bank and the University of California Cooperative Extension. Some of the production was even done by students who volunteered during a portion of their summer break.

Turkey Skillet Cooking LessonThe cooking videos are part of a pilot project funded with a grant from the California Department of Public Social Services and will be shown at DPSS offices across Riverside County and are part of a larger effort to help residents enrolled in the CalFresh food stamp program to use their CalFresh dollars to make nutritious and delicious foods for their families.

Click here to see an episode showing viewers how to make a Turkey Skillet Dinner; more can be found at the www.rusdvideo.org, search term: CalFresh Cooking Show.

Riverside Celebrates the Official Unveiling of the UC Riverside School of Medicine Education Building

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Source: Kris Lovekin, UCR Today

Community supporters, elected officials and administrators gathered Thursday, Dec. 13 to celebrate the second building affiliated with the UCR School of Medicine.

Visitors toured the School of Medicine Education Building that has been renovated and transformed with a medical simulation laboratory, a 100-seat lecture hall, 10 patient examination rooms and small group discussion rooms. It includes a wall in the entryway that has been dedicated to Dr. Thomas and Mrs. Salma Haider for their ongoing support for the School of Medicine.

UCR Chancellor Timothy P. White talks with community members, including Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey and LaSierra University President Randal Wisby, about the classroom facilities of the School of Medicine. Photo by Peter Phun; source UCR Today.

UCR Chancellor Timothy P. White talks with community members, including Seizing Our Destiny Education Roundtable members Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey and La Sierra University President Randal Wisby, about the classroom facilities of the School of Medicine. Photo by Peter Phun; source UCR Today.

“This facility is not merely a building, or a node in the network of campus research, it is the builder of dreams, a vehicle to serve the urgent needs of our community,” said Chancellor Timothy P. White in what is one of his last official appearances at UC Riverside before he goes to lead the California State University system. “From this building will emerge dozens of physicians trained on the ground in this area – many of them local residents, who understand the experiences and the cultures of their patients.”

Founding School of Medicine Dean, Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Seizing Our Destiny Champion G. Richard Olds described the simulation lab, where students, much like airline pilots, will learn and practice their skills on patient simulators created to mimic medical conditions and scenarios they are likely to encounter in the practice of medicine.

“Yes, this building has lecture halls, but our lecture halls will be used to a lesser degree than traditional medical schools,” Olds said. “Instead, we devoted a larger amount of square feet to small rooms, we call them Problem-Based Learning rooms, where students will actively solve problems, gaining and applying medical knowledge as they will need to when they become practicing physicians.”

It is because of this inventive, multi-disciplinary approach that the UC Riverside School of Medicine is a  ”Catalyst for Innovation“, serving as both a training ground for skilled medical professionals and as an economic engine for Riverside.

To read the full article published on UCR Today, click here.

UCR Promotes Student Health Through Sleep/Nap Campaign

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For some, college life is synonymous with days full of classes, long nights of studying and the occasional party. Sleep? Sleep is an afterthought. But a week-long campaign aimed at tired University of California, Riverside students is looking to change that mindset by encouraging them to make sleep a priority.

UCR’s Sleep/Nap Campaign ran from March 5 through March 11, to coincide with National Sleep Awareness Week, sponsored by the National Sleep Foundation. The program fell during the ninth week of UCR’s Winter Quarter, a time where students are ramping up their studying in preparation for final exams.

“Students who don’t get enough rest often feel tired, stressed and sluggish and have difficulty focusing,” said Devon Sakamoto, coordinator of health education initiatives for The Well. “Students are often amazed at how much better they feel and perform when they are well rested.”

Research by the National Sleep Foundation shows that teenagers need between 8.5 and 9.25 hours of sleep per night, while adults 18 and over need between seven and nine hours. A study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in February 2010 revealed that over 60% of the college students surveyed were categorized as poor-quality sleepers, with emotional and academic stress negatively impacting sleep. Students who were considered poor-quality sleepers reported suffering more physical and psychological health problems than good-quality sleepers.

“There is a lack of knowledge about the benefits of sleep for stress and performance,” said UCR Professor of Psychology Sara Mednick, author of Take a Nap! Change Your Life. “Sleep is the first thing to go when people get stressed, but unfortunately it is also the best antidote to stress.”

Mednick will presented a sleep seminar for graduate and international students on Wednesday where she discuss her research on the benefits getting a good night’s sleep and tried to break some of the negative stereotypes that surround the idea of a midday nap.

“That is one reason we are doing this research, to show through scientific discovery that sleep is important,” she said.

Also scheduled on Wednesday was the No Stress Sleep Fest, which featured helpful resources about sleeping, napping and managing stress, as well as free food, massages, stress relief and other “soothing activities.” There were even nap chairs provided for students to relax and take a nap.

On Friday, March 9, “Nap-Ins” were held where students could check in at one of the three napping spaces between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Throughout the week, students could pick up a free nap kit, featuring an eye mask, earplugs and a tip-sheet with information about napping.

The Sleep/Nap Campaign was sponsored by UCR’s Student Wellness Partners, including the Counseling Center, International Education Center, Campus Health Center, Student Recreation Center, The Well, The Dean of Students and Housing, Dining & Residential Services.

This creative campaign helped raise awareness about the benefits of sleep for overall health at a time when students are just about to head into some of the most stressful weeks of school. The future of Riverside’s position as the home of next-century health care relies first and foremost on the overall wellness of its residents, and UCR’s campaign promotes this notion with specific emphasis on the health of students.

Article reproduced from UCR Today: 
http://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/3723