Health Care Promotion in Schools

The schools are a logical, systematic, and efficient means available for educating the nation's youth in the area of health. They provide an avenue for reaching over 46 million students each year, as well as over five million instructional and support staff (Journal of School Health, 1991, p. 298). As a strong social institution, the school provides a way to reach children during their impressionable years in order to assist them in building habits that will support their health during adulthood. But do educators have the time and resources to take on this responsibility? Already overburdened administrators and teachers struggle to fulfill the functions in rearing the nation's children that have been fragmented by unsettling changes in societal structure. Can the addition of health concerns be beneficial? It is the purpose of this paper to take the position that health promotion is a welcome reform movement in education, one that integrates all parts of well-being for the student.

The 1990s are an important decade for public health and education. In September of 1990, Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, Secretary of Health and Human Services released Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives, a directive which enumerates 3000 national health objectives which will enhance the nation's ability to improve and control our health prospects (McGinnis & DeGraw, 1991, p. 292). Many of those objectives rel

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ful examples at the university level and at business sites greatly effects the well-being of all associated with the institutions. The University of Missouri developed a comprehensive health promotion program which brought a multidisciplinary approach to its philosophy, goals, and health intervention for staff wellness. This carefully-packaged program entitled Missouri University Health Education and Lifestyle Promotion (H.E.L.P.) Program indicates that employees welcome cost-effective, and time-efficient information and activities which enhance their well-being (Watts, Waigandt, Londeree, & Sappington, 1992, p. 87). The primary author of the H.E.L.P. program elected to visit other campuses in order to determine what had successfully been done to promote health at the university level. He decided to develop a comprehensive package that is somewhat of a departure from the usual cafeteria style approach to health promotion. The comprehensive package differs from the cafeteria style approach in that participants are involved in all aspects of the interventions used in their program. Girdano stated in 1986 that it is essential to the development of a quality health promotion program that a well-developed philosophy consider the
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Approximate Word count = 1580
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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