1. Marie-Claude Thibault, MBA, RD Public Health Nutritionist Ottawa Public Health April 21, 2008 Ottawa’s Healthy Active Schools Partnership

2. 2 Ottawa Public Health Healthy Active Schools Program Overview  Goal  Structure  Implementation Partners in Nutrition Education  School partnerships

3. 3 Ottawa Public Health Healthy Active Schools Program Overview

4. 4 Ottawa Public Health Goal “To enable children to make healthy choices about food and physical activity on a daily basis, which will reduce their risk for developing chronic diseases and provide them with the skills to develop healthy food and activity behaviors for life”

5. 5 Ottawa Public Health Why Partner? Evidence of rising rates of childhood obesity, decreasing physical activity levels and unhealthy eating behaviours prompted us into action. Education and health sectors accomplish more working together than separately.

6. 6 Ottawa Public Health Why schools? School environments provide opportunities to improve health behaviours.  Parents  Students  School staff

7. 7 Ottawa Public Health Structure Co-ordinating Committee Steering Committees Healthy Active School Teams

8. 8 Ottawa Public Health Co-ordinating Committee OPH partner Ø Program Manager Ø Supervisor Ø Project Lead Education partner Education consultant Program consultant

9. 9 Ottawa Public Health Steering Committees Healthy Active School Team Reps Ø School administrator Ø Lead teacher Ø Parent Ottawa Public Health Reps Ø PHNs Ø Physical Activity Ø Nutritionist/dietitian l Co-ordinating committee members

10. 10 Ottawa Public Health Healthy Active School Team School administrator Lead teacher (others if interested) Parents Students Public Health Nurse

11. 11 Ottawa Public Health Participating Schools Phase 1 ( 2005-2006) Phase 2 (2006-2007)  5 schools  10 schools  2 English school boards  2 English and 1 French school boards Phase 3 (2007-2008)Phase 4 (2008-2009)  35 schools  58 schools  All 4 school boards

12. 12 Ottawa Public Health What Schools Need? Funding Resources Expertise Time Support Champion

13. 13 Ottawa Public Health What OPH Can Provide Seed funding Public health nurses Expertise

14. 14 Ottawa Public Health Implementation Public health nurse meets with school staff Recruit the champions in the school Form a Healthy Active School Team Brainstorm ideas on how to create a supportive and fun environment for healthy living.

15. 15 Ottawa Public Health Factors for Success Timing Commitment Funding Human resources Flexibility Starting with small changes and build on what already exists

16. 16 Ottawa Public Health Evaluation Effectiveness of approach Conducted focus groups and surveys to steering committee members

17. 17 Ottawa Public Health Key Evaluation Results Flexibility and need-based design is essential for schools. PHN crucial link between education and health and by supporting, facilitating and consulting with schools. Schools value the Steering Committee meetings as they provide an opportunity for networking and sharing.

18. 18 Ottawa Public Health Recommendations Engage students, staff and parents early on in the planning. Identify and build on policies that support healthy schools at the school board level. Seek funding that would ensure sustainability and expansion. Strengthen and build new partnerships on a broad and local scale.

19. 19 Ottawa Public Health Healthy Active Schools Partners In Nutrition Education

20. 20 Ottawa Public Health Enhancing Healthy Eating And Nutrition Knowledge Identify ways to increase healthy eating opportunities in the school Solicit community partnerships Recruit volunteers to assist Institute programs to increase healthy food choices and education School teams develop their workplan and focus on ways to:

21. 21 Ottawa Public Health School / OPH Partnership Objectives: Grade 4 students learn how to evaluate the quality of the food choices in their lunch box. They then can become active in encouraging their parents to provide healthy choices in their lunch. Teachers receive: Lesson plans complementing the curriculum Student activity sheets ‘Rate your Lunch’ self-evaluation tool Nutrition resources for parents Healthy Lunch Program

22. 22 Ottawa Public Health Healthy Hot Meals School / OPH Partnership Objective: Improve the nutritional content of the hot meal programs available in schools. Public health dietitians provide expertise to schools in reviewing their hot meal programs, and suggest healthier alternatives upon needed.

23. 23 Ottawa Public Health Fruit for Friends Program - partnership with a local grocer School / Community Partnership Objective: Provide a fruit to students that need a healthy snack. A local grocer is involved and provides fresh fruits to the school students. Teachers provide a fruit piece to students on a needs’ basis.

24. 24 Ottawa Public Health Healthy Snacks Program - partnership with the parents School / Community Partnership Objectives: Allow students to exchange healthy snacks for less healthy ones Provide students that have no snacks at all a healthy option Once a week, students bring a piece of fruit from home to share with other students. In the school, volunteer parents are responsible for cutting the fruits and distributing the pieces to classes.

25. 25 Ottawa Public Health Breakfast Program Schools / NGO Partnership Objective: Improve the ability of children to learn by providing a nutritious breakfast in a safe, supervised environment. This partnership promotes community ownership by increasing funds access for schools and helping in the management of breakfast volunteers (adults-run).

26. 26 Ottawa Public Health Questions?

27. 27 Ottawa Public Health Marie-Claude Thibault, MBA, RD Public health nutritionist Ottawa Public Health marie-claude.thibault@ottawa.ca Thank you!