Elev8 UR Heart!
Gale asked the team how they could address this serious problem—both in short term and long term ways. The group immediately began brainstorming about how to get kids active at school. They knew they needed a creative, fun activity that was outside the box of traditional sports.
They came up with "Elev8 UR Heart." One day a month, during afterschool, the students exercise (and play) with hula hoops, parachutes, jump ropes, hacky sacks, tug of war and yoga. The students learn about healthy eating too. Kitchen staff prepares fruit and veggie trays, pretzels and fruit infused water. Community Health Representatives talk to the youth about the health risks of smoking and heart disease.
In February and March, all of the afterschool students and teachers participated, along with the Elev8 team. Kids were laughing and having a great time, not quite realizing that they were “exercising.” They were happy to hear that Elev8 UR Heart is going to continue once a month through the year. |
At the start of this semester, Laguna Middle School’s Nurse Practitioner, Sandy Gale, made a presentation to the school's Elev8 Team. She was concerned about student health after seeing Body Mass Index (BMI) data for the incoming 6th graders. The BMI data showed that 48% of those students were obese. Gale was also worried about the prevalence of diabetes and heart problems at Laguna—heath issues often related to obesity.
Adolescents with access to school-based health care were 10 times more likely to make a mental health or substance abuse visit than those who were enrolled in a managed care system (HMO) but lacked a school-based facility.
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