St. Vincent's HealthCare, Duval County Public Schools, and HealthTeacher partner to teach kids health literacy

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."

"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!"