Bone Builders is a community-based osteoporosis prevention education program for women and older men in Arizona. Osteoporosis is a silent disease that causes porous bones that break easily. One in two women over 50 and one in five older men will suffer from a fracture due to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis can be caused by a variety of reasons, including a lack of calcium in diet, sedentary lifestyle and certain medications.

Bone Builders is working to educate women and older men to change their dietary and exercise habits to reduce the risks of osteoporosis. It is a partnership with University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, the Arizona Department of Health Services, Arizona Osteoporosis Coalition and more than 100 partners including county health departments, health providers and interested citizens. The program uses volunteer educators, community surveys and a social marketing campaign to spread the message of osteoporosis prevention.

To help spread the message of osteoporosis prevention, Bone Builders trains Volunteer Educators to teach women about osteoporosis, distribute materials and do osteoporosis prevention activities in communities, work sites, and churches. There is no charge to the community for these services.

For more information about Bone Builders, having Bone Builders bring information to your community or worksite, upcoming classes, or becoming a Bone Builders Volunteer Educator, please call (602) 827-8200 or email at bones@ag.arizona.edu

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Bone Builders Results

During 2009, four county projects reported teaching 3349 people at 91 classes, 410 one-on-one and 12,495 people at 16 health fairs. From 1999-2008, Bone Builders staff and volunteer taught 1900 classes to 37,200 participants and reached 98,800 people at 555 health fairs.  A sample of Maricopa County classes (336 people) rated their knowledge an average of 1.86 before the sessions and after the classes an average of 4.51 (out of 5 point schedule with 5 high) or a 140% increase in knowledge

Bone Builders: Ten Years of Improving Bone Health. Peer-reviewed. Journal of the National Extension Association of Family & Consumer Sciences, Day &. Block, 2009, Vol. 4, pp 29-31. - Click to download

Bone Builders: Program Builds of University Research. Peer-reviewed. Day, S. H. and Block, L., Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, Vol. 98, April, 2006 - Click to download

For more information or to get involved in local classes or task force, or contact your local county offices, listed below.

	Apache County Cochise County La Paz County Maricopa County Pima County Pinal County Santa Cruz County Yuma County
Apache Apache County Cooperative Extension 928-337-2267	Cochise County Cooperative Extension 928-626-2422 Sierra Vista (520)458-8278 x2178
Maricopa County Cooperative Extension 602- 827-8200	La Paz County Cooperative Extension 928-669-9843
Pima County Cooperative Extension 928-626-5161	Pinal County Cooperative Extension 928-836-5221
Santa Cruz County Cooperative Extension (520)761-7849	Yuma County Cooperative Extension 928-726-3904

Bone Builders Partners:

University of Arizona Cooperative Extension; Arizona Osteoporosis Coalition; University of Arizona College of Public Health; University of Arizona Department of Nutritional Sciences; Dairy Council of Arizona; Maricopa County Department of Public Health Services, Office of Nutrition Services; Mesa Lutheran Hospital/Banner Health Arizona; Motorola; Baptist Hospital and Health System; Arizona Department of Health Services, Arizona Nutrition Network, Office of Nutrition; Phoenix Center for Clinical Research; and other community groups.

Bone Builders has been funded by:

St. Luke's Health Initiative; University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and College of Public Health, The Arizona Department of Health Services, The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, The Arizona Osteoporosis Coalition and the Arizona Nutrition Network http://www.ann.org

Bone Builders Alumnus - Click to view Bone Builders Alumnus