News Releases
NEWS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS)
Date: February 18, 2009
John McGlone, 606-326-2400; john.mcglone@kctcs.edu
Community and Technical College Foundation of Ashland and the Kentucky Heart Institute Receive Grants to promote Childhood Wellness in Local Schools
ASHLAND, KY --The Community and Technical College Foundation of Ashland, Inc., andthe Kentucky Heart Institute each received a $15,000 grant to implement a health, fitness and nutrition program in three local public school districts. The Foundation for the Tri-State Community, Inc., and the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky have awarded the grants.
The projects, which will be launched next week and will continue through the end of 2009, target elementary school children who participate in after-school programs in the Ashland, Russell and Greenup County public school systems. More than 400 children will be impacted by the program.
The Ashland Community and Technical College (ACTC) program, titled, "Healthy You-Healthy Me," involves the development of special toolkits. Under the direction of Rebecca Gehringer, director of Lifelong Learning for ACTC and Adjunct Faculty for Morehead State University (MSU), the toolkits are being developed by students in the teacher preparation classes (Health 301 and Physical Education 311) offered by MSU in Ashland. The toolkits will be given to the after-school program staff and include nutrition education, and activities and exercises to build strength, stamina and coordination.
"The toolkits will be used by the after-school programs," said Gehringer, "and it is my hope the teachers will embrace a new mindset which focuses on healthy eating and movement opportunities throughout the day for all the children."
The Kentucky Heart Institute project, called "Healthy Hearts for Healthy Kids," includes students from the Schools of Nursing at ACTC, Ohio University Southern and Shawnee State University recording the height, weight, and blood pressure of the school children and also calculating body mass index (BMI). Data will be used to assess the current fitness levels of the children, and will be compared with new data collected after the children have been in the program for several months, with the hope that significant improvements will be seen. The children will listen to presentations about nutrition, heart health and fitness, and will be encouraged to play with a Nintendo Wii Fit interactive gaming system and the Dance, Dance Revolution game that will be furnished by the Kentucky Heart Institute to schools that do not already have these systems.
"The potential improvement of student health is important to student learning," said Geri Willis, coordinator of the Ashland Family Resource Center. "This collaboration of ACTC, MSU and the Kentucky Heart Institute to provide resources and support for teachers and after-school staff will have a positive impact."
"We are excited about this initiative," said Jenny Bates, the Russell Independent School District school nurse. "Some of the children are in the after-school program until 6 p.m. daily, and we would love to give them more opportunities to be physically active during this time." Becky Roark, Family Resource Center coordinator for Russell Schools, oversees the after-school programs for that district.
"Childhood obesity and Type II diabetes are rapidly growing problems in our area and have been focal points of our 21st Century programs from the very beginning," said Tamsyn Oakes, program director for the Greenup County School System's 21st Century Community Learning Centers. "We're very excited to partner with the Healthy Hearts for Healthy Kids and Healthy You-Healthy Me programs to educate our students about fitness and nutrition. We hope to see students learn healthier eating and exercise habits in our program that they can take home to their families."
Cardiologist and preventive health specialist Robert Touchon, M.D., medical director of the Kentucky Heart Institute, said, "This partnership is an example of how a community can work together to benefit its children. We all gain from this project: college students get experience in their fields, schools receive clinically-based health and nutrition curriculum for their students, children start down a lifelong path of healthy lifestyles, and the Kentucky Heart Institute furthers its mission of working to reduce cardiovascular disease and improving the quality of life in our communities."
About the Kentucky Heart Institute
Established in May 2007, the Kentucky Heart Institute (KHI) is a non profit organization affiliated with the King's Daughters Heart and Vascular Center. KHI brings national cardiovascular research studies to this region to improve the life expectancy of people affected by cardiovascular disease. It is dedicated to the education of physicians, the medical community and the general public about the latest strategies to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, and assisting with process improvements at the medical center to improve patient care and outcomes. The Kentucky Heart Institute also participates in screenings and early detection of cardiovascular disease. The institute is closely linked with the heart and vascular specialists associated with King's Daughters Medical Center, major pharmaceutical and device manufacturers, and research foundations.
For most Kentuckians, higher education begins at KCTCS. Our statewide system of 16 colleges and 65 campuses provides citizens throughout the Commonwealth with a quality education that is both accessible and affordable.