7,500 teachers from 180 schools to use leading online health curriculum
Health Literacy initiative in Jacksonville to receive support from
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida
NASHVILLE, TN (October 22, 2009) - St. Vincent's HealthCare Foundation, with support from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida and in partnership with HealthTeacher, announced today that approximately 7,500 kindergarten through high school teachers in Jacksonville will have access to HealthTeacher's comprehensive on-line health education curriculum with the goal of improving the health literacy of students in the 180 participating schools.
"We are extremely grateful to St. Vincent's Healthcare and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida and for their generous donation of the HealthTeacher curriculum and teacher training," says Ed Pratt-Dannals, Superintendent of Duval County Public Schools. "Since students are regularly faced with making decisions that can affect their health and well-being, it is imperative that they are given the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to make healthy choices that lead them to become active, productive members of our community."
Based on it's tradition of service, St. Vincent's HealthCare Foundation places special emphasis on efforts that reach far beyond St. Vincent's HealthCare in caring for the community. In order to empower teachers and their students to understand and proactively make healthier choices, St. Vincent's HealthCare Foundation, with support from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, is underwriting the curriculum and teacher training for participating schools for two years as part of its efforts to improve the health of children and teens in Duval County.
"By instilling an understanding of good health habits in our school children today, Jacksonville teachers can make a difference that will last a lifetime," says Jane R. Lanier, CFRE, Chief Development Officer of the St. Vincent's HealthCare Foundation. "Our goal is to provide teachers with the tools to help children build a healthy foundation - to give all our children the chance to be winners!"
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 in the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, Florida students are at an equal or greater risk of current alcohol and smokeless tobacco use, as well as obesity, lifetime marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine use, when compared to U.S. students.
According to a 2009 report by Trust for Amerca's Youth and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America 2009, Florida ranks 17th in the U.S. for obese and overweight children with 33.1% of the states youth population ages 10 - 17 being overweight. Florida is just one of the 30 states in the study where the childhood obesity rate is reaching epidemic proportions.
According to Susan Towler, Vice President of Community Affairs, for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, "By partnering with St. Vincent's HealthCare and the Duval County Public School System, we are able to focus on health education as a community asset and a community resource."
Other studies show that it's not just the prevalence of childhood obesity in Florida that should be a concern: 35% of children through age 17 have already used marijuana one or more times during their life. 42.3% of children through age 17 have had at least one drink of alcohol on at least 1 day during the 30 days before the survey. 40.2% of children through age 17 on the average school day watch 3 or more hours of television (CDC, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2007)
"St. Vincent's HealthCare Foundation understands that health literacy is a 21st century skill, one that kids must learn to grow up to be healthy, productive adults," says Scott McQuigg, Chief Executive Officer of HealthTeacher. "St. Vincent's HealthCare Foundation and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida are supporting teachers by underwriting the health education resources they need to make a positive lifetime impact on the health and wellness of children in Jacksonville."
The HealthTeacher curriculum covers 10 key topic areas designed to help students develop the knowledge and skills needed to pursue healthy lifestyles throughout their lives. Designed for K-12 teachers and students, the HealthTeacher curriculum is aligned with the National Health Education Standards and Sunshine State Standards for health education that requires instruction in five key areas:
To learn more about the partnership, visit www.healthteacher.com/jacksonville.
About St. Vincent's HealthCare St. Vincent's HealthCare is a faith-based, not-for-profit health system that has served the people of Jacksonville and the surrounding communities for more than 93 years. St. Vincent's HealthCare is widely recognized for excellence in patient care. From delivering healthy babies to helping older adults through their final years with dignity, St. Vincent's HealthCare offers a continuum of care that is unsurpassed in North Florida. St. Vincent's HealthCare can do that because its physicians and associates are experts who take pride in living the mission of caring for the sick and poor. About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Celebrating 65 years as Florida's leader in the health industry, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida is mission-driven to improve affordable access to health care. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida is a not-for-profit, policyholder-owned, tax-paying mutual company. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. For more information concerning Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, please visit www.bcbsfl.com or to listen to Floridians speak out on health care issues visit www.thepowerofthehumanvoice.com.
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.
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Jennifer Faught
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