Teaching Healthy Behaviors

Healthy Improvements in K-12 Schools for Employees and Students

Because children and staff spend the majority of their weekdays at school, your school is in a unique position to have a huge impact on the conversation around health. By implementing small changes to improve the health environment of your school, you can help your employees thrive and ensure that your students develop healthy habits for their future.

By implementing changes to improve the health of your employees and students through our WellSpot Designation program, schools can play a role in positively impacting the health of the community. We support Louisiana schools by providing the resources and tools you need to encourage healthy habits like physical activity, healthy eating, stress management and quitting tobacco.

John Stewart, Athletics manager and teacher at Louisiana Key Academy, is one of the many school professionals in Louisiana who has taken the lead in moving the health of his community forward. Learn how John worked to implement healthy changes at his school to become a WellSpot! Like John, change can begin with you—take the lead in your community today!

Want to implement or expand your worksite wellness program? Eligible WellSpots can receive up to $3,000 to make sustainable changes that support employee health and wellbeing at their worksite.


Level-up Your School

Schools that meet certain benchmarks can be designated as a Level 1, 2 or 3 WellSpot, with Level 1 being the highest. 

Level 3

  • Tobacco-free Policy
  • Promotion of Quit With Us, Louisiana
  • Build Support: Establish a Wellness Committee
  • School Health Index: take assessment
  • Two additional benchmarks of choice

Level 2

  • Tobacco-free Policy
  • Tobacco prevention education
  • School Health Index: create plan
  • Four additional benchmarks of choice

Level 1

  • Tobacco-free Policy
  • All benchmarks met

WellSpot Benchmarks for a Healthier School

Well-Ahead is here to help educators and administrators be leaders by becoming a WellSpot. Our school WellSpot benchmarks are centered on an established school wellness program that includes physical activity and nutrition components for students and staff. 

All school WellSpots must be designated as tobacco-free locations, promote Quit With Us, Louisiana, establish a wellness committee and assess one module through the CDC’s School Health Index (SHI) platform. In addition to these four wellness benchmarks, schools may meet additional benchmarks to achieve the desired designation level. When you implement these evidence-based benchmarks, you will improve the health of your staff and move Louisiana’s health forward!


Our Partners


Citations:

1  Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 Update. Tobacco Use and Dependence Guideline Panel. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK63952/

2  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses—United States, 2000–2004. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2008;57(45):1226–8. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5745a3.htm

3American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control Report for Louisiana. Retrieved from: https://www.lung.org/research/sotc/state-grades/louisiana

Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youths, Surgeon General fact sheet. (2020). Retrieved 11 June 2020, from https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/tobacco/preventing-youth-tobacco-use-factsheet/index.html

Flay, B, “Psychosocial approaches to smoking prevention: a review of findings,” Health Psychology 4(5):449-88, Sept 1985. See, also, Best, J, et al., “Preventing cigarette smoking among school children,” Annual Reviews of Public Health 9:161-201, 1988.

 6The Business Case For Breastfeeding. Published in 2008 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.womenshealth.gov/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-home-work-and-public/breastfeeding-and-going-back-work/business-case#:~:text=Case%20For%20Breastfeeding-,The%20Business%20Case%20for%20Breastfeeding%20is%20a%20comprehensive%20program%20designed,success%20of%20the%20entire%20business.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Facts About Hypertension in the United States. https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htm

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Diabetes Quick Facts. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/quick-facts.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health and Academic Achievement Overview. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2014.