HealthTeacher And Alignment Nashville Team To Provide Health Education To 75,000 Students

Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 17 Dec 2007 - 3:00 PST

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HealthTeacher and Alignment Nashville announced the addition of the HealthTeacher resources to Nashville's overall health and wellness education toolbox. The resources involve both Internet and Print versions to assist teachers and health professionals with their lesson plan development for health education. This partnership is made possible through a grant from the Healthways Foundation.

"A new community-based health education model is being discussed, and Nashville has the opportunity to be a model city," said Sydney Rogers, Executive Director of Alignment Nashville. "The Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) has recently documented the idea that schools can't do it alone and that children need access to a network of supports for learning and development. This model, called complementary learning, intentionally links non-school supports with each other and with schools to better ensure that all children have the skills they need from birth through adulthood."

"HealthTeacher's resources are aligned with our overall strategic initiatives for teaching health education in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (MNPS)," said Dr. Tina Bozeman, Coordinator of Health, Wellness, P.E. and ROTC for MNPS. "The new resources from HealthTeacher will assist our teachers in addressing significant health and behavioral issues among our youth, build health literacy, and help our teachers overcome many of the constraints that now limit the provision of comprehensive and sequential health education in the school setting."

HealthTeacher will also be made available to community providers of health education who are working through the Children's Health Initiative of Alignment Nashville. "It's important that we all have a shared language when talking with our children about health," said Jeff Dotts, Director of Alignment Nashville's Children's Health Initiative. "Using HealthTeacher as a resource will allow the messages in the schools to be echoed in the community. It's a great opportunity to pull together the community." In the future, these resources will be available to all agencies working with Alignment Nashville Health Initiatives.

HealthTeacher with assistance from the Health Department, other non-profits and Alignment Nashville, is providing professional development for teachers and educators on how to successfully use the new resources. The resources meet the National Health Education Standards and consist of nine areas: Tobacco, Alcohol and Other Drugs, Community and Environmental Health, Injury Prevention, Mental and Emotional Health, Nutrition, Personal and Consumer Health, Physical Activity and Family Health. The resources also address the top six health risk behaviors identified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"Nashville is a very diverse community with many health care needs," said Dr. Kimberlee Wyche-Etheridge, Director of Family, Youth, and Infant Health for Metro Public Health Department. "This program will help us deliver the right messages to specific communities in need."

"Nashville is known throughout the country as the silicon valley of health care. Now we have a unique opportunity to become one of the healthiest cities for children in the country," said J. Tod Fetherling, Chief Product Officer of ConnectivHealth, the parent company of HealthTeacher. "We are excited to collaborate with Alignment Nashville to provide our hometown with this comprehensive educational resource and to measure the impact of health education on one of the most livable cities in the world."

About Alignment Nashville

The purpose of Alignment Nashville (AN) is to create a system to bring community organizations and resources into alignment so their aligned support to Nashville's youth has a positive impact on public school success and the success of our community as a whole. MNPS has contributed administrative staff, principals and office space, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce has contributed office space, and generous philanthropists have donated more than $700,000 for staffing and operations. More recently, the HCA Foundation, the Healthways Foundation, and Amerigroup have also provided funding for the Children's Health Initiatives.

Alignment Nashville

About Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools

Metro Nashville Public Schools provide a range of educational opportunities to more than 74,000 students in Nashville and Davidson County. The governing body for MNPS is the Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County Board of Public Education, a nine-member group elected by residents of Metropolitan Nashville.

Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools

About ConnectivHealth

ConnectivHealth is a network of powerful health information brands that enables the delivery, distribution and organization of important health information for physicians, health care professionals, hospitals and schools through customized channels. Each brand serves a critical information need in the marketplace with the single goal of improving health. Privately held, the ConnectivHealth network includes: PeerClip, HealthTeacher, VerusMed and Discovery Hospital. HealthTeacher is a leading provider of health education resources for kindergarten through 12th grade with more than 7,500 schools in 60 countries. The company's investors include Petra Capital Partners of Nashville, Chrysalis Ventures of Louisville, Ky., and members of the management team.

ConnectivHealth