52,000+ students from 102 public schools in 2 school districts to be taught using leading online health curriculum
BOISE, ID (January 11, 2010) – Saint Alphonsus Health System, announced today that teachers in Ada County, Idaho will have access to a comprehensive K-12 online health education curriculum with the goal of improving the health literacy of students in 102 participating schools and 5 private Catholic schools across 2 districts.
The partnership supports Saint Alphonsus Health System’s mission to improve the health and quality of life of the members of their community by promoting the health literacy of over 52,000 local students. Saint Alphonsus Health System is underwriting the curriculum and resources, provided through HealthTeacher, and teacher training for participating schools for over three years as part of its efforts to improve the health of children and teens in Ada County.
"Our mission is to improve the health of our community, and we have a long-standing history of partnering with other organizations to improve community health and safety. We believe it is our responsibility to work beyond our typical hospital and physician clinic settings to serve our community," said Sally Jeffcoat, President & CEO, Saint Alphonsus Health System. "By sponsoring and funding HealthTeacher resources, we have an opportunity to do something really important – help both our teachers and our children. Through this partnership, we can help students have a better understanding of health, improve health literacy and help them make lifestyle choices to become better advocates for health."
Many high-risk health behaviors often are established during childhood and adolescence, which extend into adulthood. These behaviors can be addressed and prevented with proper education. According to the Centers for Disease Control, Idaho students are at a equal or greater risk of current smokeless tobacco use, episodic heavy drinking considering and attempting suicide, as well as lifetime inhalant use when compared to U.S. students overall.
"The health status of students is directly related to their performance in school. If students don’t feel well, in a physical or socio-emotional sense, it has been shown time and time again that they don’t perform well in any of the general indicators of their school experience," said Dr. Stan Olson, Superintendent, Boise Public Schools. "Our teachers and students will benefit from a set of options that for a long time have not been available to them. It will help students understand the control they have over their own lives, health and wellbeing."
According to a 2009 report by Trust for America's Youth and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America 2009, 26.5% of children ages 10 – 17 in Idaho are considered overweight or obese. The study finds that in 30 states, the childhood obesity rate is reaching epidemic proportions with 30% of children being overweight.
The CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2007 rates the behaviors of children through age 17 by state. It shows that it's not just the prevalence of childhood obesity in Idaho that should be a concern:
"Our district has a large initiative and huge commitment to healthy lifestyles for our staff and students. We are excited about this partnership between Saint Alphonsus and HealthTeacher because it helps us face the challenges of finding appropriate, timely and affordable health materials," said Dr. Linda Clark, Superintendent, Joint School District No. 2. "The ability to engage teachers and students with online resources and activities, by utilizing technology to help students learn up-to-date concepts, is consistent with our goal to become a 21st century school district."
Results from the 2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System show that approximately 72,000, or 6.8 percent of Idaho adults, 18 years or older, report ever being told by a doctor that they have diabetes (not including gestational diabetes). Most Idahoans are diagnosed at the age of 51. Healthy lifestyle choices can greatly improve the quality of life for all those facing diabetes and pre-diabetes, the pre-cursor to the full-blown disease.
The HealthTeacher curriculum covers 10 key topic areas designed to help students develop knowledge and skills needed pursue healthy lifestyles throughout their lives. Designed for K-12 teachers and students, HealthTeacher's curriculum and resources are provided to: 2,800 teachers in Boise Public Schools and Joint Unified School District No. 2. The HealthTeacher curriculum is aligned with the National Health Education Standards and Idaho Standards for Health Enhancement that requires instruction in five key areas:
To learn more about the partnership, visit www.healthteacher.com/Boise.
"Saint Alphonsus, along with Boise Public Schools and Joint School District No. 2, have a passion and commitment, similar to the philosophy at HealthTeacher, to improve upon the lives of students and their families in Boise," said Ed Fitzgerald, M.Ed., Director of Learning Solutions, HealthTeacher. "We are excited about our partnership with these three organizations, where we believe we can help them reach the goal of improving the healthly lifestyle habits of students in the Treasure Valley."
About Saint Alphonsus
Saint Alphonsus is a 387-licensed bed regional medical center serving people throughout the Northwest. Saint Alphonsus emphasizes care that is patient-centered, innovative and community based. Saint Alphonsus focuses on providing services in a spiritual, healing environment, and is renowned for its state-of-the-art digital environment and pioneering technologies; award-winning clinical services; a nationally accredited Life Flight program and the region’s Trauma Center. For information about Saint Alphonsus visit www.saintalphonsus.org.
About HealthTeacher
HealthTeacher is a leading provider of online health, wellness and prevention education resources for kindergarten through 12th grade and is used by more than 20,000 teachers nationwide. HealthTeacher provides teachers the resources, tools and background material to educate students about making healthy lifestyle choices through more than 300 lesson plans aligning to the National Health Education Standards. HealthTeacher helps establish community-based health literacy collaboratives by developing partnerships between healthcare organizations, businesses, community leaders and schools to address the growing issues affecting the health status of children. To learn more, visit www.healthteacher.com.
Media Contact:
Jennifer Faught
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800-514-1362
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