Get Healthy Carson City: A better community begins with you

This column appears in the Nevada Appeal Wednesday health pages. It addresses topics related to the health of our community.

Everyone wants to live in a great place. They want their community to be healthy. They want their community to be safe. Healthy, safe communities are nurtured every day by residents who step up to make things better. There are so many ways you, in your daily life, can make Carson City the kind of place we all want to live, and because spring is a time of new beginnings, there’s no better time to start!

Get growing! Fresh local produce is healthy and tasty, and beautiful gardens make our neighborhoods more welcoming. Why not get your hands dirty and grow something?

Did you know Carson City has a community garden? The 25-bed garden on Beverly Drive allows community members who don’t have room for a vegetable garden on their property to rent a 4-by-16-foot garden bed for $20 for the year. The cost includes water, soil preparation, some seeds and fertilizer, and free admission to any of the Grow Your Own classes offered in May. An added benefit of working in the community garden is the opportunity to interact with other gardeners and make new friends. For those who want to give back to the less fortunate in our area, community garden plots are available free of charge for those who want to grow fresh produce to donate to a local food bank.

If your thumbs are not exactly green, the Nevada Cooperative Extension will be offering Grow Your Own classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays in May, and two master gardeners will be available to help those who have questions. Check the Nevada Cooperative Extension website for more information and a class schedule. To reserve your spot in the community garden, contact Extension Educator Lindsay Chichester at chichesterl@unce.unr.edu.

Streets with more people out and about are safer in many ways. Automobile drivers are more alert to bicyclists and pedestrians when there are more of them, making the streets safer for everyone. Crime goes down on streets where people are out and about to deter criminals, and where neighbors are looking out for each other. Now that spring is here and the weather is warming, get outside! Meet your neighbors. Arrange a neighborhood potluck or barbecue. Go for a walk around the block. Organize a community clean-up day for your street. Nowadays, people are more connected than ever through our devices, but at the same time we’ve never been more isolated. Is there a youth in your neighborhood who could use a mentor? Is there an elderly resident who could use a hand with yard work? Is there a single mom who could use some help getting errands done? Please step up to help where you see a need.

Carson City Health and Human Services works every day to make Carson City as healthy as it can be. A community is not just streets and buildings, but the people who live, work, and play there. People like you. Let’s all work together to Get Healthy, Carson City!

For more information about other Health Department services, check out our website at www.gethealthycarsoncity.org, or visit us at www.facebook.com/cchhs.