HEALTH NEWS

Healthy Schools Innovation Awards

Three elementary schools were honored on May 22, 2008 at the first annual Healthy Schools Award Ceremony. These schools were recognized through Innovation Awards in the areas of Nutrition, Physical Health, Mental Health and Safety/Environmental Health. Each program had to be not only innovative in its design and implementation, but had to be both sustainable and replicable.

Healthy Schools was developed by the Howard County Health Department in collaboration with Howard County Public School System, School Health Council, Howard County Board of Education, PTA Council of Howard County, and the Howard County Nutrition & Physical Activity Coalition and is based on local and national best practices. This collaborative effort hopes to advance and strengthen health and wellness policies throughout all Howard County schools both public and private. Schools were nominated for the awards by principals, teachers, parents, PTA Council and community members.

Winners were:

Nutrition – Hollifield Station Elementary School – “Recess Before Lunch” –

This program began as a result of children rushing through lunch to get to recess, others returning from recess with stomachaches and some others unable to settle back into schoolwork. School officials reversed the order and found that meals were eaten completely and slowly, there were fewer trips to the nurse’s office and there was a decrease in behavioral issues.

Mental Health – Hollfield Station Elementary School – “Therapeutic Yoga for Teachers”

This program was started to improve the mental and physical health of the teachers. Classes are held once per week for each 8-week session. The teacher who organized this program describes the purpose of the program as a way to make the teachers more physically fit and to give them tools with which to better handle stress.

Safety/Environmental Health – Rockburn Elementary School – “Safety & Health Expo”

This program was tailored to the different ways that adults and children learn. Children and parents learned about preventing cyber bullying, navigating chat rooms safely, how parents can be prepared if their child is missing, how students can be safe while traveling in cars and on bicycles. Rockburn hoped to keep students and parents talking long after the Safety and Health Expo ended.

Physical Activity – Guilford Elementary School –

“Turkey Trot 1-mile Run” - is an annual event where each grade runs/walks one mile together. The students train for this event in their P.E. classes, and adults/parents are stationed at various points to provide support and water and to ensure safety. This exercise also emphasizes team work by teaching the students to support their classmates since each grade is competing.

“Miler Club” - is an initiative that supports the walking or running of laps around the gymnasium or field during P.E. classes or recess. The number of laps are recorded and are cumulative for the entire time spent at the school. The children are rewarded with paper plaques, ribbons and trophies. There are various levels of the club, depending on the number of laps run. The children encourage each other and strive to reach the next club level.

“Fitness Focus” - is a program that takes place for one week every month. Each month has a different focus. Students are given a tracking worksheet to take home to complete the activity at home with their families. The children are given the freedom to choose exercises that they enjoy as long as they fit within the parameters of that month’s category. When they return the tracking sheets participants receive small prizes.

Health Department Is First in State to Provide ONLY BPA-Free Baby Bottles to WIC Program Infants & Children

In the wake of the recent warnings about BPA’s (bisphenol A) contained in various plastics used in the manufacturing of baby and children’s products, the Howard County Health Department has decided to supply only those products that are BPA-free to participants in the WIC (Women, Infants & Children) program. Howard’s WIC program which serves approximately 2900 clients (adults and children) per month is now the first Health Department in Maryland to enact a BPA-free program. “While this chemical has not conclusively been proven to cause higher rates of early puberty, breast and prostate changes, cancer and hyperactivity as well as other potentially serious conditions, we believe we should act responsibly and err on the side of caution where the health of our county’s children is concerned.” says Dr. Peter Beilenson, Howard County Health Officer.

BPA or bisphenol A is used to make polycarbonate, a clear and rigid plastic. BPA can be found in baby bottles, sippy cups, teethers, food and drink packaging, water bottles, toys and other impact-resistant plastic products. Polycarbonate plastic can degrade over time when it's heated or washed with hot water, causing significant leaching of BPA.

The Health Department suggests using food packaging and serving containers labeled with a #1, #2, #4, or #5 in the recycling triangle. Avoid polycarbonate plastic in food containers. Check the bottom/underside of the product. Do not buy or use plastics marked with a number “7” or a “3” in the recycle triangle. This will avoid BPA’s leaching into liquids consumed by infants, toddlers, children and adults, and causing possible future health issues.

“We hope that by bringing this information to the public, we can exert market pressure on retailers to carry only those BPA-free products”, continues Dr. Beilenson.

Click here for more info on BPA

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Notice of Privacy Practices

The Howard County Health Department is committed to protecting the health information of all clients. In accordance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule, the following Notice of Privacy Practices is provided to all individuals that receive services from the Department.

Click here to view Privacy Practices (File is in RTF format, which can be opened in Microsoft Wordpad and most popular word processing packages.)