Health and wellness at the heart of Family Room activities at Ag Progress Days

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Visitors to the Family Room building at Penn State’s Ag Progress Days can explore hands-on exhibits and demonstrations designed to help them build healthier habits. Educators from Penn State Extension’s food, families and communities and pesticide education teams will coordinate the activities.

Designed for all ages, there is something for everyone, organizers said. The Family Room is located on Main Street between West Eight and West Ninth streets at the Ag Progress Days site.

Each day, extension educators will staff exhibits, lead demonstrations and present talks with a focus on healthy living through food, physical activity, food safety, stress management, digital literacy, cancer screening and sun safety.

Highlights include:

Food demonstrations and speaking presentations: Visitors can join Penn State Extension’s food, families, and communities educators as they prepare healthy recipes, provide information on various health and wellness topics, and demonstrate safe home food preservation techniques.

Mental health and wellness in agriculture: Farming can be stressful because so many variables are out of farmers’ control — such as the weather, equipment breakdowns and the economy. Producers can become healthier and happier by learning to identify and respond in positive ways to stressors. Visitors can discover tips and resources to keep themselves and their neighbors mentally and emotionally healthy.

Health and wellness display: Educators will share information on food, nutrition and physical fitness, along with tips for chronic disease prevention and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Family well-being programs: Visitors can find ideas and resources on parenting and childcare, grandparents raising grandchildren, and financial management.

Home food preservation and consumer food safety: In celebration of National Food Safety Month in September, Penn State food safety and quality educators and volunteers will provide research-based information on how to safely store and preserve foods at home.

Vector-borne disease: Penn State Extension’s vector-borne disease team focuses on diseases caused by pathogens transmitted by ticks and mosquitoes, such as Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and West Nile virus. The team will provide resources on recognizing ticks and mosquitoes and offer tips to help people protect themselves and their families, pets and livestock from vector-borne diseases.

Pests in the home: Penn State Extension’s pesticide education program will introduce different pests that may occur in a home and ask participants to match the pests to the tools that are used to manage them. This activity will introduce children to the concept of pests and introduce adults to the concept of integrated pest management. Everyone will have a chance to spin a wheel, answer a question and win a prize.

New exhibits for this year include:

Digital literacy and online safety: Penn State Extension’s digital literacy program will provide information and practical resources for youth and parents, adults, and seniors on a series of topics related to internet and online safety.

Reducing colorectal cancer risk: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers in Pennsylvania, and rural communities are hit harder by this disease. According to experts from the Penn State Cancer Institute, screening can catch cancer early — when the chances of beating it are best — but only two out of three people who should get screened are keeping up with their tests. Visitors can get information on available screening options and steps they can take to protect their health.

The “Strollin’ Colon” giant inflatable colon: The Penn State Cancer Institute will offer an interactive display featuring a walk-through inflatable colon. If the weather permits, visitors can stroll through the giant inflatable human colon and discover what healthy tissue looks like compared to polyps and other changes. The exhibit will feature educational information about colon health, warning signs and how simple screening can keep the colon healthy.

Sun safety and skin cancer prevention: Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the U.S. One in five Americans develops skin cancer in their lifetime, and one person dies of melanoma every hour. The farming community is especially at risk given their exposure to ultraviolet light. Skin cancer can be prevented, and if caught early, it is treatable. Penn State Health dermatologists continue to focus on skin cancer education, prevention and treatment.

Visitors also can stop by the WellSpan Mobile Health Clinic, located behind the Family Room building. The clinic, through donations and grants from the community, uses a free clinic model to increase access to health care and promote healthy choices for under-resourced communities in rural Pennsylvania. During Ag Progress Days, the mobile clinic will offer information about Lyme disease and ticks geared for kids, promote healthy lifestyles, and educate the community on bicycle safety.

Sponsored by Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, Ag Progress Days is held at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs, 2710 W. Pine Grove Road, Pennsylvania Furnace. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 12; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 13; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 14. Admission and parking are free.

For more information, visit the Ag Progress Days website. Social media users can find and share information about the event by using the hashtag #agprogressdays, and the event also can be found on Facebook (@AgProgressDays).