TSET | Healthy Living Program Serving Garfield County
Our daily choices shape our long-term health, but those choices are heavily influenced by the environment around us. Through the TSET (Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust) Healthy Living Program, we are actively working across Garfield County to build a community where wellness is accessible to everyone. By partnering with local schools, businesses, and city governments, we are stopping unhealthy behaviors before they take root and building a more vibrant, active community.
Our History
For over 35 years, Rural Health Projects, Inc. has poured heart and hard work into rural Oklahoma communities. Founded in 1989 and officialized as a nonprofit in 1992, our organization grew out of a vital promise: every neighbor deserves access to healthy living and compassionate care. Over the decades, we recognized that true health begins long before anyone enters a clinic. It starts in school cafeterias, on neighborhood sidewalks, and in local grocery aisles. That deep commitment drove us to build our TSET Healthy Living Program, bringing local team members together to tackle the root causes of chronic disease and create lasting wellness right where our families live and play.
Where We Serve
As TSET HLP grantees, our current work primarily serves Garfield County while previous grant cycles also included Grant County. We pour our daily work into Enid and the surrounding towns because local action creates real momentum. Our team builds personal relationships with the people who shape daily life here, ensuring every neighborhood benefits from safer places to move, better food choices, and smoke-free spaces for our kids.
Funding the Program
This transformative work is made possible through grant funding from the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, widely known as TSET. Because TSET invests directly in prevention, every dollar goes straight toward protecting lives. This dedicated support allows us to tackle the primary causes of Oklahoma’s top health challenges, keeping resources at work right here in Garfield County to prevent chronic illness before it takes root.
Collaboration
To create lasting change, we step outside the office and work directly with the places you live, work, and play in Garfield County. For our TSET Healthy Living Program, we partner closely with the Garfield County Health Department, the Garfield County Live Healthy Coalition, Garfield County Public Schools, and city/town governments to pass tobacco ordinances, design walkable streets, and improve school nutrition. We also guide local grocers on stocking affordable fresh foods and educate store owners on Tobacco 21 rules to protect our kids.Â
Tobacco Prevention & Education
Protecting our youth is a top priority. We actively educate local retailers on Tobacco 21 laws to keep tobacco and vaping products out of the hands of young people, significantly lowering the risk of lifelong addiction.
Active Living & Transportation
We collaborate with city planners, schools, and local leaders to develop active transportation paths and open community facilities. Whether it’s creating safer routes to school or better walking trails, we want to make physical activity a safe, seamless part of everyday life.
Access to Healthy Foods
Nutrition shouldn't depend on your zip code. We work with small retailers and local organizations to bring affordable, fresh, and healthy food options into neighborhoods that need them most, ensuring families have the fuel they need to thrive.
192
Tobacco Retailer Education Visits
RHP partnered with youth volunteers from Youth Build to complete 64 tobacco retailer education visits a year, promoting merchant compliance with point-of-sale tobacco laws
60+
Health & Wellness olicies
RHP successfully drafted and enacted over 60 multi-sector health and wellness policies across schools, businesses, and municipalities to build permanently healthier community environments
19,103
Rural Shoppers
Targeted retail interventions and nutritional audits at local grocery stores successfully expanded fresh food access for 19,103 rural shoppers in isolated food deserts
50k+
Residents Protected
More than 50,000 regional Oklahomans directly benefit from the smoke-free public spaces, school wellness standards, and clean environments established under these local policies
Facts & Figures
Key Achievements & Community Impact
-
Community Impact: TSET Program Coordinators collaborated directly with school administrators to update their wellness policies. This unlocked the $60,000 grant to build Garfield Elementary's outdoor community running track and funded the purchase of physical education equipment (FAST workout kits, jump ropes, and basketballs) to support daily active living for pre-K through 12th-grade students
-
Champlin Park StoryWalk: Formulated and permanently installed a "StoryWalk" path at Champlin Park in Enid. Developed in partnership with the Public Library of Enid and Garfield County, this active literacy project posts children's book pages along permanent outdoor structures, allowing families to simultaneously build early language skills and engage in physical exercise while strolling
-
Walking Audits for improved Active Transportation: Spearheaded active-transportation and safety walk-audits of the downtown Enid built environment. The audits assessed sidewalk quality, crosswalk safety, and pedestrian barriers to help municipal partners design and implement active-transportation plans, sidewalk improvements, and safe school intersections