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A report by the Select Standing Committee on Health (Nov. 2006)
This publication documents childhood health and wellness programs in BC, explores factors contributing to obesity and inactivity, and recommends further action on addressing these trends.
Committee office (toll free): 1-877-428-8337; Link(top)
As part of the ActNow BC initiative, the Province will make new tools available to parents and teachers to encourage children and youth to be more physically active, Education Minister Shirley Bond announced Spring 2007.The new ActNow BC parent and teacher resources include: Healthy Living for Families GuidesEvery student will receive a booklet with tips and ideas on how to help children and youth be physically active and eat nutritiously. Three different booklets are aimed at parents of students in grades K-3, 4-7 and 8-9. A fourth guide is aimed at students in grades 10-12 to help them make their own healthy choices. The booklets will be sent to schools and can also be downloaded online at www.bced.gov.bc.ca/health/hsnetwork/. Health MattersThese new learning resources contain materials that will help students learn more about active living and healthy eating. The resources are aligned with the Health and Career Education (HCE) curricula for grades K-7, 8-9 and Planning 10. The resources have been piloted and tested for grades 8 to 10 and will be ready for implementation in September 2007. Health Matters for Kingergarten through Grade 7 will be field tested in Fall 2007 and ready for implementation in September 2008. Healthy Living Performance StandardsOver the next year, members of BC's new Healthy Schools Network will work with the Province to develop provincial healthy living performance standards that will outline appropriate health knowledge for each grade level.
After much media attention the guide is now available on-line. The revised Food Guide includes far more culturally specific foods and is expected to make translations available within several months. It contains information that is more targeted to specific groups — children, teens, women, men and the elderly. And, for the first time, serving sizes for preschoolers are included as well.
It has also adopted some of the American food pyramid's online interactive elements. Under the My Food Guide, users provide their age, sex and physical activity levels. The website takes the information and churns out your own personal food guide. It also produces portion sizes in ways that are easy to measure. Check out: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index_e.html for more information.
Based in British Columbia, Canada, the Directorate of Agencies for School Health (DASH) was established as a not-for-profit society in 1983. DASH is a cooperative interagency network representing a broad range of local, regional, and provincial organizations and individuals acting as advocates for prevention activities that enable students to develop to their fullest potential.
DASH promotes Comprehensive School Health (CSH). The CSH model, commonly described as "a Healthy School", is a practical framework for students, families, schools, and communities to network and create plans to enhance student health and learning. CHS provides opportunities to all youth and encourages them to make healthy choices about their schools, lifestyles and communities in which they live. Contact numbers: Tel (604) 583-6047 Fax (604) 583-1139; Click here to send an email!
DAD is a free nutrition information line for British Columbians, funded by the B.C. Ministry of Health. Dial-A-Dietitian specializes in easy-to-use nutrition information for self-care, based on current scientific sources. Our registered dietitians can provide brief nutrition consultation by phone. If you need more in-depth counselling, they will guide you to hospital outpatient dietitians, community nutritionists or other nutrition services in your community. Translation services are available in 130 languages. Check out the website for more information: www.dialadietician.org(top)
Dietitians of Canada (DC) represents over 5,500 dietitians across Canada. DC is committed to promoting the health and well being of consumers through food and nutrition. For further information on nutrition and healthy eating, visit Dietitians of Canada award-winning website at www.dietitians.ca. Register to receive regular healthy eating messages from dietitians at www.dietitians.ca/eatwell.
A new memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Government of British Columbia, the First Nations Leadership Council, and the Government of Canada. It renews a commitment to improve the health of First Nations people and their communities in B.C. The Parties will work together to improve health promotion, and disease and injury prevention services so that First Nations people experience lower levels of preventable diseases and injuries, and live longer, healthier lives. Link(top)
Focusing on neigbourhoods and housing this report explores the link between health and the social and physical aspects of urban areas. It reviews the latest research on these links and, using pan-Canadian data, presents new analyses of health-related outcomes between and within Canadian cities. Link
Formed in February 2003, the BC Healthy Living Alliance (BCHLA) is a group of organizations that have come together with a mission to improve the health of British Columbians through leadership that enhances collaborative action to promote physical activity, healthy eating and living smoke-free. The association has 3 primary goals:
1. To advocate for and support health promoting policies, environments, programs and services;
2. To Enhance collaboration among government, non-government and private sector organizations;
3. To increase capacity of communities to create and sustain health promoting policies, environments, programs and services. Check out: http://www.bchealthyliving.ca/index.php for more information.
British Columbia's Healthy Schools Network, launched last fall, now has its own website: www.npbs.ca. The site is designed to both provide support for network members and share useful information and resources with education partners and stakeholders interested in supporting and improving student health through school settings. Also check out: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/edinfo/reading_room/hs.htm; EdInfo, V.6 (19), Jan 26, 2007.(top)
This new program, called Literacy Education Activity and Play (LEAP BC), promotes literacy in children up to age five by integrating reading and language skills with play. Parents and caregivers will be able to access tools and resources to help them encourage more physical activity and healthy eating in their children, while engaging children in literacy through activities such as singing, rhymes, movement and games. The program resources will be available free of charge, early 2008. The University of Victoria and the BC Government teamed up to create/faciliate this innovation through the 2010 Legacies Now Program. Link
This website offers many tools and resources on healthy eating at school. The tools are designed for teachers, principals, parents, school trustees, and others stakeholders. You can also view testimonials, videos and ideas for action. Click here!
The Network of Performance Based Schools is a voluntary action research community designed to improve student learning and to strengthen public education. Network schools represent the diversity of public education in BC with small remote rural schools, large urban secondary schools, schools serving vulnerable populations, and schools in affluent communities all being part of this learning community.
Network schools use teacher developed and validated classroom based performance standards in reading, writing, numeracy, and social responsibility. Find out more about this great network at www.npbs.ca
Part of the Active2010 Initiative, and created by the Government of Ontario, this is a webguide for kids who want to be active. Kids can learn about competitive sports, sports histories and facts, and canadian athletes. Resources and local links for Ontario sport associations are also provided. But even if you don't live in Ontario, this is a great website for engaging information about a variety of sport. There are games to build and test knowledge, videos and interesting facts sheets about nutriton, fitness, fuel and fun! Check it out at www.pausetoplay.ca (top)
This gateway website provides access to many resources in school health promotion as well as being home for the Canadian School Health Centre and the Canadian School Health NGO Network. The website provides links to research, reports, how-to manuals, planning and assessment tools and lesson plans. It also contains vast links-based libraries on school health promotion with connections to the worldwide Comprehensive School Health/Health Promoting Schools movement. Visit the Safe Healthy Schools website for more information!(top)
The School Health Research Network (SHRN) brings together researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners who are interested in school-based or school-linked health promotion. SHRN activities include research projects, research dissemination, and networking. Based in Canada, the School Health Research Network includes contacts with the World Health Organization and researchers in several countries. Go to: www.schoolhealthresearch.org for more information.