Egyptian Health Department (EHD), as a member of the Illinois CATCH onto Health! Consortium is extremely pleased to announce the beginning of an exciting grant-funded children's health program called C.A.T.C.H . (Coordinated Approach To Child Health).
CATCH is an evidence-based coordinated school health program designed to promote physical activity, healthy food choices, and prevent tobacco use in elementary school aged children. CATCH uses several aspects of the school environment and involves classroom teachers, school food service staff, physical education (PE) teachers, students' families, and the broader school community in a range of health promoting activities for all children in grades K-5. There are four core components of CATCH :
• Eat Smart school nutrition
• Go for Health Classroom Curriculum
• CATCH Physical Education
• Family Home Team activities
The coordination of health messages and activities between these four component areas is essential to positively impact children's knowledge, skills, and behavior. By establishing healthy behaviors in childhood, CATCH proves nutrition learning and physical activity can be FUN! For nearly 20 years, CATCH has guided schools, families, and children in healthy living. CATCH has developed an evidence base that demonstrates the effectiveness of CATCH at improving physical activity and nutrition (decreasing fat consumption) as well as maintaining those changes across time. Recently, a CATCH program in El Paso, Texas reported significant effects of CATCH on preventing the onset of overweight and obesity among school aged children.
Phyllis Wood, EHD CATCH Director, states,
“EHD is very excited to bring the CATCH program to our service region of Hamilton, White, Saline, Gallatin, Pope and Hardin County schools! CATCH , when used as part of a school's wellness policy, has demonstrated positive outcomes regarding the improvement of students' academic performance as well as providing them with healthy living skills that will last a lifetime. It just makes sense – healthy children make better learners!
In our area, we currently have six schools, one in Gallatin County, two in Saline County and three in White County, joining more than 7500 CATCH schools nationwide currently implementing CATCH ! We have a variety of projects planned for each school, beginning with hosting a CATCH training day for school staff, distributing newsletters for families, sponsoring a family fun event, and purchasing additional physical education equipment.
Each school has a “school champion” someone who serves as an enthusiastic supporter of the CATCH program and as a liaison between the school and EHD. At Carmi's Jefferson and Lincoln Attendance Centers the school champion is Mrs. Cindy Colman , at Crossville Attendance Center it's Ms. Stephanie Newcombe , at Eldorado Elementary it's Mrs. Lori Woolcott , at Carrier Mills-Stonefort Elementary it's Mrs. Phyllis Bradley , and at Gallatin County Elementary, it's Ms. Mercedes Naas . Julie Patton, EHD's Health Educator and an essential member of EHD's CATCH team, provides information and assistance to each school.
Julie and I are looking forward to working with each school's staff as they eagerly introduce the CATCH program into their school. We are expecting a terrific year and some equally terrific results from both staff and students!
It is our goal to recruit all our area schools into the CATCH program, so if anyone wants to learn more about this exciting program, I encourage them to contact EHD, visit the CATCH website at www.catchinfo.org or the CATCH Texas website www.catchtexas.org .”
The three-year Delta States Rural Development Network Grant Program is funded by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration office of Rural Health Policy and is administered in southern Illinois by Southern Illinois University-Carbondale's Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development (SIUC-CRHSSD).
The Illinois CATCH onto Health! Consortium includes SIUC-CRHSSD ( http://www.siu.edu/~crhssd/ ) as well as three Illinois Delta Region partnership organizations – Egyptian Health Department ( www.egyptian.org ), Southern Illinois Healthcare ( www.sih.net ), and Southern Seven Health Department ( www.southern7.org ).
For more information, contact:
Phyllis Wood, EHD CATCH Director
112 E. Main St., P.O. Box 181
Ridgway, IL 62979
Phone: (618) 272-4691 Fax: (618) 272-5751
pwood@egyptian.org
Julie Patton, Health Educator
1412 US HWY 45N
Eldorado, IL 62930
Phone: (618) 273-3326, ext. 2130 Fax: (618) 273-2808
jpatton@egyptian.org
Kim Sanders, Delta Project Coordinator
SIU-C, Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development
150 E. Pleasant Hill Road, Suite 118
Carbondale, IL 62901
Phone: (618) 453-5545 Fax: (618) 453-5040
ksanders@biz.siu.edu
Websites for additional resources:
www.mypramid.gov
www.schoolnutrition.org
www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/
www.idph.state.il.us
http://www.cdc.gov/family/kidsites/index.htm
www.stldairycouncil.org
www.kraftfoods.com
www.healthyschoolscampaign.org
www.kidshealth.org
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/wecan/
http://delta.raconline.org
