Extension offers educational material on health, nutrition

Local organizations looking for educational programs and materials on health and nutrition, family relations, and personal finance need to knock on only one door – that of the Highland County office of Ohio State University Extension.

"OSU Extension's family and consumer sciences program did a statewide survey of 310 organizations earlier this year and found that some did not realize the wide range of topics we offer," said Amy Habig, family and consumer sciences educator for Adams, Brown, and Highland Counties.

For example, the FCS Program serving Adams, Brown, and Highland counties will offer programs like:

• Home Food Preservation
• Dining with Diabetes
• Food Safety

In addition, Extension materials on related topics are available through:

• Ohioline (http://ohioline.osu.edu), which offers free OSU Extension fact sheets and publications on a variety of topics.

• eStore (http://estore.osu-extension.org/), which offers for-sale publications from OSU Extension.

• eXtension (http://www.extension.org), which offers research-based resources from Extension professionals at land-grant universities nationwide, including Ohio State.

As part of the land-grant system, OSU Extension offers programs on a wide variety of other topics, including agriculture, natural resources, and gardening; 4-H youth development; and community development. But it's often the family and consumer sciences area that hits home with Ohio residents, said Keith Smith, director of OSU Extension and the Gist Chair in Extension Education and Leadership at Ohio State University.

"Our family and consumer sciences programs help Ohioans learn how to apply research-based information in their daily lives to make informed choices about everything from finances to healthy families to food safety," Smith said. "OSU Extension's theme is 'Empowerment through Education,' and that's exactly what our programs do for Ohio's families every day."

For more information about OSU Extension family and consumer sciences programs and services offered in Adams, Brown, and Highland Counties, contact your local Extension Office (Adams: 937-544-2339, Brown: 937-378-6716, Highland: 937-393-1918). Or e-mail Amy Habig, family and consumer sciences educator, at habig.13@osu.edu.