141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

292121
Walpole school nurses: Agents of enduring change


Sunday, November 3, 2013

Kathleen Garvin, MEd, BSN, RN, NCSN, Walpole Public Schools, South Walpole, MA
Robin Chapell, MS, RS, Town of Walpole, Walpole, MA
Laura Fenster Rothschild, PsyD, CPS, Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Program, Rutgers, Center of Alcohol Studies, Piscataway, NJ
Martha Dewey Bergren, DNS RN NCSN APHN-BC FNASN FASHA FAAN, College of Nursing, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL
Danielle Cooper, MPH, Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Program, Rutgers Center for Alcohol Studies, Piscataway, NJ
Walpole Massachusetts Public Schools has a vibrant Wellness Committee, a Coalition for Alcohol and Drug Awareness, Let's Move Walpole and a history of working collaboratively with community partners on health issues. As Walpole's students age, the percent of students in the obese range increases. Our goal is to decrease the rate of obesity to 6% from 17.9%, the rate it was a generation ago. A new School Nutrition Food Director shared the school nurses vision for healthier foods for the district's children and presented an opprtunity. This presentation will describe the process that was learned at the Summer School Health Institute for bringing about Enduring Change. The steps taken for creating a school community garden began with an in-depth needs assessment, team building with school and community health partners, development of a time line, implementation of the change project and evaluation. Descriptions of the community based partnerships and the challenges faced as well as the successes will be shared. The Summer School Health Program equips school nurses to be effective agents of change provides a model for similar programming with public health nurses and community health champions.

Learning Areas:

Public health or related nursing

Learning Objectives:
Describe how one team of school nurse leaders and an executive sponsor were able to bring about healthy changes in their school community Discuss the community garden project and plans to build on that success for future changes Explain how the School Health Leadership Program altered the school nurses approaches and skills for creating a healthier school environment

Keyword(s): Leadership, School Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the lead nurse in the school district and was instrumental in leading this project. In addition to my formal graduate education, I attended the week long in residence program, Johnson & johnson's School Health Institute in the summer of 2012. I received 38 hours of hands on education and mentoring and was coached through this program. I have presented a regional professional programs in the past on child health and nutrition topics.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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