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Healthy Kids Make Healthy Communities. The Project Healthy Schools Grant. Our Commitment to Michigan. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is a non-profit organization – a surprise to many!
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Healthy Kids Make Healthy Communities The Project Healthy Schools Grant
Our Commitment to Michigan • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is a non-profit organization – a surprise to many! • We give back millions of dollars a year to Michigan residents, in the form of grant funding (such as the Project Healthy Schools Initiative), subsidies, in-kind donations, and staffing for policy and advocacy work. • The Health Policy and Social Mission department has worked on physical activity and nutrition, access for the uninsured, depression, and domestic violence for the past three years. • The times they are a changin’: For 2007–2011, we’ll retain physical activity and nutrition and access, and add smoking cessation and maternal and child health.
Background: Project Healthy Schools • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s Project Healthy Schools grant funds efforts to increase physical activity and promote healthy diets for children. • The Leslie (Mid-Michigan), Grand Rapids (West Michigan) and South Redford (Metro Detroit) school districts were selected from a pool of 47 applicants statewide. The three districts were funded at $50,000 per year over two years, for a grand total of $300,000. 5,000 children were impacted. • BCBSM worked collaboratively with the Michigan Dept. of Community Health and Dept. of Education to develop grant guidelines and select applicants.
Background: Project Healthy Schools • Schools created multi-faceted programs: • Nutrition awareness and physical education (walking clubs) • Changes to food service and menu options • Greater parental involvement • Nutrition policy change • Staff development • The Blues are committed to Project Healthy Schools, and designated it a long-term corporate goal tied to executive incentive compensation for 2004-2006.
Core Requirements Schools were given flexibility in program design, but there were a few core requirements that guided their efforts: 1. Coordinated School Health Teams (CSHT) The CSHT is a multi-disciplinary committee that shapes school wellness policies and takes responsibility for the direction and implementation of the grant. Teachers, administrators, nursing and social work staff, parents, and students were all encouraged to be part of the effort.
Core Requirements 2. Healthy School Action Tool (HSAT) This is an assessment tool to help schools determine what changes they should make to improve school health. The questions in the HSAT reflect current research findings on what is most critical to creating healthy school environments. Questions were asked about school wellness policies, cafeteria menus, vending choices, the built environment, the community in which the school resides, staff demographics, etc. The questions were grouped into “modules” and results were derived from them.
Core Requirements 3. Community Collaboration As part of the grant, schools were required to collaborate with community partners such as hospitals, universities, and business owners. For example, Leslie Schools collaborated with Michigan State University and Foote Hospital of Jackson, Michigan.
Leslie: Highlights • Widespread improvements made to lunch menu; unhealthy foods have significantly decreased and all foods are now baked, not fried. • Leslie teachers received ethnically diverse books with positive messages on nutrition and physical activity to incorporate into reading time. • Built an indoor climbing wall that is available for use by over 900 students and community members. • “Sin tax”: Increased prices of unhealthy items, then sales decreased. • Staff participated in walking programs, too!
Grand Rapids: Highlights • Sponsored Healthy University (Healthy U) after- school program in 6 schools • 12-week program with 4 weeks of instruction on nutrition, fitness and exercise. • Students visit the YMCA to utilize state of the art kid-sized fitness equipment and do activities such as yoga, African drumming, and salsa dancing. • Mini-markets at schools encouraged the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables. Over 400 families have purchased produce from the mini-markets to date. • Mentorship program w/ at-risk students as leaders.
South Redford: Highlights • South Redford students produced their own “PSAs.” They’ve been viewed by over 1,200 students district-wide. • Developed a voluntary walking program, where students walked the number of miles needed to reach Mexico. A Cinco de Mayo celebration was held later to recognize student achievement. • Conducted several health fairs for parents and their children – wonderful experience! • Provided healthy snacks to children during school hours to encourage kids to eat more fruits and veggies and try new/different ones.
HSAT Results • Leslie: • Staff health promotion changed 57% • Nutrition services changed 24% • Family/community involvement changed 27% • Grand Rapids: TBD • South Redford: • Each of the four schools experienced improvements of approx. 10% with the food service module • Three of four schools experienced a change of approx. 33% (avg.) with regard to family/community involvement.
Overall Physical Activity Results • Our goal over two years was to see a 10% increase over baseline in physical activity in two of three districts. This goal was accomplished.
Overall Nutrition Results • Our goal was to see a 10% improvement over baseline (represented in the table below) in healthy eating behaviors in two of the three districts. This goal was not accomplished. For the results below, students were asked which of the following healthy behaviors they had done yesterday.
Corporate Goal • Since the BCBSM corporate goal required that both physical activity and nutrition be improved in at least two communities by 10 percent, our corporate goal for physical activity and nutrition was not met. • While we met the goal for physical activity, only one school was able to improve nutrition by 10%. • But, the students, staff and parents loved it … and we learned some valuable lessons for next time!
Walking and Climbing in Leslie • Students had fun using the climbing wall and participating in the walking club.
Working Out in Grand Rapids • The kid-sized fitness equipment at the Grand Rapids YMCA was a blast, too!
Barriers to Success • Varying levels of expertise among the districts, in terms of program implementation and management. • Evaluation: It was a challenge to consistently obtain needed information from all schools in a given district – this stemmed from intra-district communication issues. • Teachers and administrators already have a LOT on their plate. • Changing deeply ingrained behaviors and lifestyle choices is hard work!
Potential for Replication • Parts of program are replicable – such as CSHT component and HSAT (or similar assessment tool customized for your state or region). • Schools were given free reign in program design and development, but all three incorporated some sort of physical activity club (or regular, incentivized activity) and changes to their school menus and vending machines. • By improving physical activity and nutrition, we were trying to target the two key variables in obesity that individuals can actually control.
Sustainability • One of our primary goals with this grant program – and every grant program we do - was to fund activities that would be sustainable after the two-year grant cycle had ended. • Programmatic elements such as the climbing wall, healthy plate option, and nutrition-friendly book bags can be continued well into the future with little or no additional funding required.
Questions? • Questions about the Project Healthy Schools grant program may be directed to Tyffany Shadd-Coleman, MHSA. • Tyffany is a Project Leader at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and can be reached via email at tshadd@bcbsm.com, or via phone at 248-448-5045.
