Coordinated School Health Objectives
Data Collection:
This includes getting health information from the students such as blood pressure, BMI, 1 mile walk/run times, and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
This information is needed to find out what areas are dealing with specific problems which will enable us to address these issues with evidence based programs that will meet their needs.
Currently we do not have health data on children in Hamilton County. Once we have this information, there will be better opportunities to apply for grants which will create more opportunities to support schools and the community to enhance the health of our students.
Environmental Changes:
Schools need to have an environment that supports health physically, socially, and mentally. This includes factors such as temperature, noise, lighting, safety, and aesthetic surroundings.
Examples of environmental changes include putting up health promoting posters throughout the school, revamping cafeterias to include colorful murals of the food pyramid, or building a walking track on the school property.
Policy Changes:
Policy changes are vital for long term success for health promotion in schools. An example of a policy change in CSH would be for teachers to incorporate health education within their normal subject.
One important new policy change is the 90 minutes of Physical Activity Law which states that every student in TN grades K-12 must get 90 minutes of physical activity per week during school hours.
Organize Programs:
Our community is fortunate to have a lot of good people, resources, and companies who want to help in our endeavor to change the health of our children.
Many of these programs want to get into the schools to promote different aspects of health to the children. Coordinated School Health has the responsibility to understand what each program does and find out if it is evidence based and successful. We can match the programs with appropriate schools that would benefit from them.