East Elementary hosts walk to inform students and teachers about healthy habits
JACKSON, TN (WNBJ)
October is child health month and breast cancer awareness month. The Jackson madison county regional health department marked the occasion by visiting a west Tennessee school to inform both students and teachers about healthy habits.
The theme for this year’s child health month is childhood resilience focusing on children's emotional, social and physical health.
Public health educator Shenika Bond is promoting the importance of physical activity for children, "so we can decrease those obesity rates throughout childhood, which is basically a pandemic now.”
This walk at east elementary helped teach the kids how to stay healthy.
“Just encourage the children to get out and walk and run and play,” says Bond.
Principal Amanda Brabham believes exercise like this can help the students in more ways than one, “We want to make sure that our students are healthy because when they are healthy, they are learning.”
One student at east elementary, Allie, told us what she likes to do to stay fit, "my favorite thing to do is arm circles….and I like to do monkey bars.”
A member of the library staff feels adults can play a big part in helping kids stay healthy, "children really follow and model what adults around them are doing so if they see mom or dad… teacher or a friend at church, anybody doing something really positive. ‘hey exercise is fun, it’s important to move, it’s important to make good decisions,” says Allison Scruggs.
But "children's health" wasn't the only reason the health department visited east elementary...
The goal was to also educate the staff on breast cancer
"Breast cancer is something that affects 1 in 8 females, but it can affect males because they have breast tissue as well,” and Amanda Johnson.
Amanda Johnson shares some of the ways to catch breast cancer early, "doing your self-breast exam even if you're a male. Going for your checkups, getting that initial being seen by your doctor.”
The health department hopes that today's visit to east elementary will go a long way in promoting healthy habits... And that today's walk was just the beginning of a healthy lifestyle for the students.
