If your New Year's resolution involves being healthy in 2012, you are in good company. Several organizations in Hampton County are making strides towards improving health and quality of life in the new year.

Eat Smart, Move More
Ethel Denmark, Hampton County Healthcare Consortium Coordinator, is proud of Hampton for opening a chapter of Eat Smart Move More, a nation-wide movement.
"We're the last county in the Lowcountry - that's significant," said Denmark.
As the two dozen community leaders steering the chapter discovered, it means following in good footsteps. ESSM chapters in other states and in counties here in South Carolina have already begun finding the best practices for promoting healthy lifestyles.
The Hampton chapter is gearing up to introduce some of those opportunities locally in 2012.
Lake Warren
Park Manager Harry Hafer has dedicated his two years at Lake Warren to clearing the backlog of maintenance projects and to expanding the park's trails. Along with Ranger Morgan Attaway and the help of several Scout troops, he has gotten the park into shape. Now it is time for runners and hikers to get in shape out on the trails.
"First Day Hikes," part of a nation-wide promotion, brought folks out to the lake on New Year's Day. With two ranger-assisted hikes that morning (one dedicated for folks with their canine companions) locals looking to get healthy in the new year found their needs accommodated.
Hafer hopes that starting the year off with exercise will inspire people to stick with their resolutions. He's introduced a "20/12 in 2012" program that outlines concrete, manageable goals. It encourages hitting the trails for twenty minutes twelve times a month.
Hafer is collaborating with Eat Smart Move More to promote the program. He plans to incorporate themed walks throughout the year, a practice that SC State University 1890 Extension has found useful. Cornelius Hamilton, Youth Services Coordinator for the Extension, has found that people come out to get fit with their friends, especially for team walks (where people wear their college team gear) and other themed events.
Lowcountry CommUNITY Quality of Life Initiative
Le Creuset, a major industry in Hampton County renowned for its high quality cookware, is taking an interest now in the quality of what locals put into those cast-iron pots.
"The whole idea is to give back, to help make our community a healthier place," says Larry Crapse, consultant spearheading the Lowcountry CommUNITY Quality of Life Initiative. The ambitious project is "intended to assist citizens of the South Carolina Lowcountry in improving the quality of life in the region."
"We're in Phase One, as Faye [Gooding, Le Creuset North America CEO and Hampton native] calls it. It's an exploratory phase. In February we'd like to begin focusing on the most critical and exciting projects."
Those projects will be chosen along two lines: promoting the health and quality of life for Lowcountry residents, and promoting the economy.
"Le Creuset would like to be a proactive leader," says Crapse, "in fostering awareness and action that will make the Lowcountry the pride of the state."
Eat Smart Move More South Carolina has a vision of healthy choices being "essential parts of the everyday culture in South Carolina where we live, work, learn, pray and play." In this new year, Hampton County is poised to open a new chapter of living well.