FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 12, 2008

Huntsville Hospital Foundation Announces Health Education Partnership with north Alabama schools and HealthTeacher

Health Education Curriculum to be used by teachers in Madison, Marshall, Morgan, Limestone and Jackson counties

Because of its commitment to education, outreach and the promotion of health literacy, Huntsville Hospital Foundation is pleased to announce its partnership with HealthTeacher, an innovative online health education curriculum that enables teachers to help children in grades K – 12 develop healthy lifestyle habits.

The Foundation is offering the HealthTeacher program to public and private schools in five north Alabama counties (Madison, Marshall, Morgan, Limestone and Jackson).  These teacher resources will benefit 110,000 children, plus their families, in the first year of implementation.

HealthTeacher was created to meet and to exceed the National Health Education Standards and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Core Health Topics.  The program includes more than 300 health lesson plans across ten topic areas. The program utilizes a comprehensive curriculum for use in schools, pediatrician offices, and after-school programs, such as the YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, Girls Inc. and HEALS. 

While research shows there is a strong correlation between childhood health education and healthy lifestyle choices throughout one’s lifetime, funding for health education takes a backseat to other traditional curriculum.  The result is that many school districts, left without a comprehensive health curriculum, forego health education or cover it on a limited basis in other classes such as science or physical education. 

The results, from a health perspective, are telling.  According to recent reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Trust for America’s Health, Alabama is the second most obese state in the country, 4th highest in type 2 diabetes, and it ranks 3rd highest for hypertension.  

Sadly, the state’s success in educating children about the dangers of tobacco use is equally dismal – Alabama is ranked 48th out of 50 states in the resources it expends to discourage tobacco use by our youth.

Hospitals, insurance providers and community foundations know firsthand the impact of poor health education. They are on the front lines caring for those who have not learned to make healthy lifestyle choices or who do not have the fundamental knowledge and skills to deal with physical and emotional issues.
Candy Burnett, president of Huntsville Hospital Foundation, says that Huntsville Hospital is taking a proactive stand in healthcare education.  “Our state’s shocking statistics related to obesity and life-threatening disease, combined with a lack of health education resources in our schools, were the impetus for us to offer HealthTeacher as an outreach initiative.  We hope that by educating our community and increasing its health literacy, our children and their families will be better able to make healthy lifestyle choices that will keep them out of the hospital and allow them to lead healthier, more productive lives,” says Burnett.

Like many students across the country, north Alabama area youth face a number of health challenges that, if addressed early in life, can be preventable. Data from the Centers for Disease Control Youth Risk Behavior
Surveillance System (http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/states/al.htm) shows the following about north Alabama:

•    18 percent of students are overweight
•    71 percent have tried alcohol
•    61 percent have smoked cigarettes
•    38 percent watch three or more hours of television every day
•    38 percent have had sexual intercourse
•    26 percent were offered, sold or given illegal drugs on school property
•    Conversely, only 13 percent eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day


Burnett adds, “Our goal, through the HealthTeacher program, is to reverse these trends.  An important mission of Huntsville Hospital is community outreach, and HealthTeacher will allow us to accomplish that mission by helping children and their families to make healthy lifestyle choices that will serve them well throughout their lives.  We are excited about this program and believe that it will be a great benefit to families in Huntsville Hospital’s service area.”

Scott McQuigg, CEO of HealthTeacher, agrees.  “We are excited to be working with the Huntsville Hospital Foundation and teachers of north Alabama to tackle children’s health issues head-on,” says McQuigg. “With health-risk behaviors on the rise, the Foundation is taking a proactive approach by providing teachers with the resources and tools to teach children the health knowledge and skills they need to pursue healthy lifestyles.”

Teachers in north Alabama schools will also reap the benefits of the HealthTeacher program.  Blossomwood Elementary School principal Dr. Cathy Vasile says, “Huntsville Hospital Foundation has again risen to the challenge of being proactive about our health!  Blossomwood Elementary, as the pilot school for HealthTeacher, looks forward to helping educate our youngest community members in how to become and to stay healthy. HealthTeacher will add another tool for our teachers to access in planning meaningful, authentic learning in the curriculum of health.  We are very appreciative of Huntsville Hospital Foundation for allowing us to be part of this initiative.”

The launch date for HealthTeacher is January 5, when students in all school systems will be encouraged to “resolve to be healthy” by setting healthy lifestyle goals and monitoring their progress throughout the semester.  HealthTeacher’s innovative curriculum utilizes the internet, resource books, posters and interactive activities that make learning easy and fun.  Healthy living newsletters will be sent to student homes monthly, thereby extending the learning opportunity to the entire family.


About Huntsville Hospital Foundation
Huntsville Hospital Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, established in 1978 to serve as the fundraising arm of Huntsville Hospital. The Foundation works to strengthen relationships between the hospital and the community. As a partner in the hospital’s continuing growth, the Foundation accepts gifts – both individual and corporate – on the hospital’s behalf and works to fund both present and future equipment and program needs. Huntsville Hospital provides care for more than one million people, regardless of their ability to pay, and the hospital provides more than $68 million in uncompensated care each year. Since Huntsville Hospital receives no tax support from the local, state, or federal government, the hospital relies on and appreciates donations to the Foundation.

About Health Teacher
HealthTeacher is a leading provider of online health education resources for kindergarten through 12th grade used by more than 20,000 teachers nationwide. HealthTeacher provides teachers the resources, tools and background material to educate students about making healthy lifestyle choices through over 300 lesson plans that meet or exceed the National Health Education Standards and the Center for Disease Control’s Core Health Topics. HealthTeacher is an operating unit of ConnectivHealth, a leading provider of digital content solutions focused on advancing health and wellness. To learn more, visit www.healthteacher.com.



FOOTNOTES
  1 F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America.  Prepared by Trust for America’s Health and   Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  2008. 
  2 A Decade of Broken Promises.  Prepared by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  2008.