Arkansas Children's Hospital, Arkansas Coordinated School Health and HealthTeacher Expand Partnership Through Child Wellness Intervention Project (CWIP) Grant Program

     Online health education curriculum to be used in 56 CWIP grant schools

Nashville, TN (May 11, 2010) ' Arkansas Children's Hospital, in partnership the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Commission and the Arkansas Coordinated School Health Program, announced today that HealthTeacher will be the health education curriculum for the 56 schools chosen for the Child Wellness Intervention Project (CWIP) grant. Over 12,000 kindergarten through twelfth grade students, across 28 districts, will participate in the CWIP program, with access to HealthTeacher's comprehensive on-line health education curriculum. The addition of the CWIP program means that HealthTeacher is now being used in over 320 Arkansas schools.

The CWIP Grant Program funded by the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Commission promotes health and wellness in Arkansas's public schools. This program has two goals: 1) to support and promote quality physical education to increase physical activity that impacts student overall health to decrease risks of chronic diseases and 2) to implement this project in each of the educational cooperatives to create model programs across the state. These model program schools will serve as examples for other schools to follow.

"The CWIP program sets important benchmarks for increasing the frequency and effectiveness of health education," says Scott Gordon, Executive Vice President at Arkansas Children's Hospital. "We are pleased to continue to support the HealthTeacher curriculum and educational resources to now include schools who have agreed to achieve the CWIP benchmarks."

Criteria from the CWIP Grant states that physical education time must be increased (from the required 60 minutes a week) and schools must commit to following Best Practices set by CDC/DASH, NASPE, and AAHPERD:

·       30 minutes a day for 5 days a week (150 minutes) OR

·       40+ minutes a day for 3 days a week (120 minutes)

·       Health education lessons must be taught a minimum of 2 days per week in elementary classroom using HealthTeacher.com

·       Arkansas ranks second in the nation for childhood obesity. The new CWIP initiative will focus on reducing childhood obesity by increasing physical activity through quality physical education programs and providing critical health education.

 "HealthTeacher is honored to be providing the health education resources, training and support for schools participating in the innovative CWIP program," says Scott McQuigg, Chief Executive Officer of HealthTeacher. "CWIP represents an important extension of our work with Arkansas Coordinated School Health, Arkansas Children's Hospital, and hundreds of schools throughout the state."

Natural Wonders ' The State of Children's Health in Arkansas, a research effort led by Arkansas Children's Hospital and supported by multiple agencies and healthcare providers in the state, lists obesity, injury prevention, alcohol and tobacco use as current issues facing Arkansas youth.

-       An average of 18% of Arkansas youth are overweight

-       Only 13% ate the daily recommend amount of fruits and vegetables

-       Over 27% have ridden in a vehicle driven by someone drinking alcohol

-       Currently, over 25% use cigarettes

-       Routine dental care was needed for more than 22% of children

To learn more about the Arkansas Children's Hospital's partnership with HealthTeacher, visit www.healthteacher.com/arkansas.

About Arkansas Children's Hospital

Arkansas Children's Hospital is the only pediatric medical center in Arkansas and one of the largest in the United States serving children from birth to age 21. The campus spans 29 city blocks and houses 316 beds, a staff of approximately 500 physicians, 80 residents in pediatrics and pediatric specialties and more than 4,200 employees. The private, nonprofit healthcare facility boasts an internationally renowned reputation for medical breakthroughs and intensive treatments, unique surgical procedures and forward-thinking medical research - all dedicated to fulfilling our mission of enhancing, sustaining and restoring children's health and development. ACH, recently named for the third time as one of U.S. News & World Report's best pediatric hospitals, also has ranked twice on FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For®, most recently at No. 85. For more information, visit www.archildrens.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 education 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

 
Coordinated School Health

Coordinated School Health is a collaborative partnership between the Arkansas departments of Education, Health, and Human Services.  Our goal is improve the health, education and well being of our children, families, schools, and communities by providing information, resources, and technical assistance.  Coordinated School Health is funded at the state level by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Division of Adolescent School.  The Coordinated School Health model consists of eight interactive components.  Schools by themselves cannot-and should not be expected to-solve the nation's most serious health and social problems. Families, health care workers, the media, religious organizations, community organizations that serve youth, and young people themselves also must be systematically involved. However, schools could provide a critical facility in which many agencies might work together to maintain the well-being of young people.  To learn more visit www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/CSHP or www.arkansascsh.org