A statewide organization is looking for health heroes from Livingston County.

The Michigan Public Health Week Partnership is seeking nominations of individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to preserve and improve their community’s health for its annual Hometown Health Hero awards. The awards are presented every April as part of Michigan Public Health Week. This year, there are five categories the awards will focus on: healthy communities, violence prevention, rural health, technology and public health and climate change. Spokesperson Lynn Sutfin told WHMI there are all kinds of ways people can positively impact their community’s health…

“The Michigan Public Health Week Partnership is seeking nominations of individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to try to improve their community’s health. It could be as simple as trying to get healthy foods into a local convenience store if there’s not a grocery store in the neighborhood, starting a program at their local school to try to get kids to do heart healthy exercises, just a variety of things.”

Sutfin added that nominees are not limited to individuals...

“If you know somebody in your community that is promoting a program that is promoting good health, whether it is health or exercise, good nutrition, violence prevention, trying to make your community a healthier place, they very well could be eligible for this. It can be an individual, it can be an organization. We’ve had doctors organize, we’ve had school organizations, police departments, a variety of folks have been recognized through this program.”

Nomination forms can be found at the link below. Awards will be presented at the State Capitol on April 10. Completed nominations should be sent to Jim Koval via email at kovalj@michigan.gov or faxed to 517-335-8392 by Feb. 15. (AV)