Hopscotch by Jan Tik
This June, the Chatham County Public Health Department (CCPHD) was awarded a grant from North Carolina’s Eat Smart Move More Community grant program to increase youth physical activity in the county. With this funding, the School Health Liaison, Ellie Morris, and other staff members from the Community Health Promotion and Advocacy Division of the CCPHD will work with the non-profit organization, Be Active North Carolina and three Chatham County Schools, Moncure School, Bonlee School and Horton Middle School. The partners will implement Be Active North Carolina’s Just Push Play Program.
This is an exciting opportunity that will support these schools in making innovative and sustainable changes to increase their students’ physical activity. Through the Just Push Play program, schools will form wellness teams to assess their current capacity to promote physical activity and will plan for healthy change. The teams will work toward physical changes to their schools that encourage exercise and active play (for example, building a walking path, or painting a hopscotch board to encourage active recess) as well as program and policy changes. Each school will receive a mini-grant to make these changes a reality.
The implementation of Just Push Play at Moncure, Bonlee and Horton schools fits nicely into the array of programs and initiatives already in place in the county. Chatham County’s Team Fit has been helping to organize staff wellness programs with schools throughout the county (see our post on the successful partnership between Bennett School and Team Fit at http://www.chathampublichealth.com/programs/team-fit-helps-bennett-school-get-fit/) and many schools have taken the initiative to offer staff wellness opportunities on their own, including fitness competitions and free fitness classes.
With new interest and new programs springing up all around the county, the state, and the nation, this is an exciting time for school health. Chatham County has great partnerships in place to support this expanding focus—the School Health Liaison and other staff from the Chatham County Public Health Department and other community organizations will continue to work with Chatham County Schools and with Chatham County’s School Health Advisory Council to ensure that our schools are health-promoting places to learn, work, and play.
To learn more about school-based health promotion, please contact Ellie Morris, School Health Liaison with the Chatham County Public Health Department, at 919-545-8514 or elizabeth.morris@chathamnc.org.
