guard your health leadership toolkit · pdf filethe chief surgeon’s mission is to build...
TRANSCRIPT
LEADERSHIP TOOLKIT
WWW.GUARDYOURHEALTH.COM
Guard Your
Guard Your
Guard Your
MIND
Body
Spirit
GUARD YOUR HEALTH
Table of ContentsMessage from the Chief Surgeon, Army National Guard 3
Toolkit Overview 4
About Guard Your Health 4
Talking Points and Key Messages 5
Tips for Promoting Guard Your Health 6
Ready-Made Social Media Content 7
Sample Guard Your Health Brief 8
Sample Logos, Graphics, and Infographics 10
Contact Us 12
2 | My Mission. My Health.
LEADERSHIP TOOLKIT
Message from the Chief Surgeon, Army National Guard Dear ARNG Leaders,
The safety and security of our nation rests in the health and wellness of our Army National Guard
Soldiers. Like you, I feel a tremendous responsibility to support our Soldiers by providing tools and
resources to help keep them healthy and fit. By sharing informative health and wellness information,
we can educate, inspire, and encourage our Soldiers to make healthy decisions and stay mission ready.
That’s where the Guard Your Health campaign can help. Guard Your Health is an award-winning
health promotion and medical readiness campaign that equips Soldiers and their families with
actionable information, tools, and resources to stay resilient, adaptable, and medically ready. Through
the campaign’s website, www.guardyourhealth.com, Soldiers and their families can access tailored
health and medical readiness information specific to their unique needs as Citizen-Soldiers.
I encourage you to join me in creating awareness about the Guard Your Health campaign among
Soldiers. This toolkit includes talking points, key messages, and promotional tips to help you spread the
word. Your support will allow our Soldiers to continue to be a vital part of our national security efforts
at home and overseas.
Each one of us has a unique opportunity to positively impact the overall health and well-being of our
Soldiers. We thank you for your continued leadership and support in ensuring they have the resources
necessary to protect and defend our nation.
Best Regards,
Eric D. Morgan
COL, MC
Chief Surgeon, Army National Guard
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GUARD YOUR HEALTH
Toolkit Overview Guard Your Health offers tools, tips, and resources to help make medical readiness a reality for Army National Guard Soldiers and their families. This toolkit provides an overview of Guard Your Health as well as suggestions on how you can help spread the word about the campaign as a central resource designed to help keep Soldiers’ minds, bodies, and spirits fit and ready to meet challenges at home and abroad. With your help, Soldiers will have the information, motivation, and support they need to make healthy decisions for themselves, their families, and their units.
Help us spread the word! This Guard Your Health toolkit provides all of the materials and resources you need to encourage Soldiers and fellow leaders to engage with the campaign, including:
About Guard Your Health
y Talking Points and Key Messages
y Tips for Promoting Guard Your Health
y Ready-Made Social Media Content
y Sample Guard Your Health Brief
y Sample Logos, Graphics, and Infographics
Why Guard Your Health?Guard Your Health supports the Army National Guard Chief Surgeon’s efforts to build and sustain a resilient, adaptable, and medically ready Citizen-Soldier force. Readiness is critical for individual Soldiers, as well as for the unit. Across the 54 states, territories, and the District of Columbia, the Army National Guard has implemented programs to help address comprehensive fitness and overall well-being for Soldiers and their families. However, there is still more work to be done to reverse the negative effects of tobacco and alcohol use, poor nutrition, stress, and behavioral health concerns among Soldiers. It’s much harder for Soldiers to meet the demands of their job if they are not fit and duty ready. These demands extend into their civilian life, where Soldiers must balance the needs of their civilian job and family life with their Army Guard duties.
The Guard Your Health campaign was designed to provide easily accessible tools and resources that promote comprehensive fitness and overall well-being for Soldiers and their families. By visiting www.guardyourhealth.com, Soldiers can access health tips, state crisis contacts, a special Guard Life section, an Ask-the-Experts feature, and Guard benefits information. They can also access informative articles and motivational Guard stories on topics such as nutrition, exercise, stress, sleep, dental health, sexual health, tobacco cessation, illness prevention, and family resilience.
4 | My Mission. My Health.
LEADERSHIP TOOLKIT
“We’ve been waiting a long time for something like Guard Your Health. It’s real, applicable health information. You have our full attention and support.”
-CPT Lambert, MS, PA ARNG
Talking Points and Key MessagesThe following talking points and key messages are designed to increase awareness of the Guard Your Health campaign. Use these talking points to introduce Guard Your Health and available health‑related tools and resources in your presentations, meetings, and briefs.
y The goal of the Guard Your Health campaign is to give Army National Guard Soldiers the information, motivation, and support they need to overcome the unique challenges they face as Citizen-Soldiers and help them make healthy decisions for themselves, their families, and their units.
y Launched in 2013, the Guard Your Health campaign supports the Army National Guard Chief Surgeon’s efforts to build and sustain a resilient, adaptable, and medically ready Citizen-Soldier force.
y Guard Your Health aims to inform, inspire, and engage Army National Guard Soldiers and families to achieve and maintain holistic, healthy behaviors to improve their lifestyle, well-being, and medical readiness.
y The Guard Your Health website offers a wide range of information on different health topics, from fitness and exercise to nutrition and sleep health. You also can access different health tools, anonymously ask health-related questions, and access quick links to resources related to the National Guard, such as health insurance and education.
y Guard Your Health is designed to increase awareness and education of health and medical readiness tools, resources, and information to reinforce self-responsibility for wellness and diminish health risks that may impact medical readiness.
y The Guard Your Health website provides information on the health care, education, and personal benefits available to Army National Guard Soldiers and their family members, including a “Where to Start” roadmap to help find your benefits based on your status with the Army National Guard.
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GUARD YOUR HEALTH
Tips for Promoting Guard Your Health There are many ways you can increase awareness of the campaign. Below are a few simple ways you can spread the word about the Guard Your Health campaign among Soldiers and fellow leaders.
y Incorporate Guard Your Health talking points into your presentations, seminars, training events, and briefs. A sample brief and presentation are included in this toolkit.
y Share campaign materials and images (included in this toolkit) to provide Soldiers with engaging health and medical readiness information and resources.
y Link to GuardYourHealth.com on your organization’s or state’s website, social media sites, or blog.
y Connect with Guard Your Health on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ARNGHealth), Twitter (https://twitter.com/arnghealth), and Tumblr (http://guardyourhealth.tumblr.com/).
y Encourage Soldiers to share their successful health accomplishments by e-mailing [email protected] or by going to the Guard Your Health website (http://www.guardyourhealth.com/my-story/) to submit their story.
y Promote Guard Your Health in your organization’s newsletter or e-blast. Check out the Guard Your Health Supporter Toolkit (http://www.guardyourhealth.com/community/toolkit/) online for customized messages and downloadable material.
y Share Army Physical Fitness Test (http://www.guardyourhealth.com/apft-max/) workout plans and prep guides found on the Guard Your Health website with Soldiers.
y Engage Soldiers and their families at health-related events—targeting a specific disease, wellness, or preventative maintenance—such as a health fair, a health briefing, or other health awareness activity.
6 | My Mission. My Health.
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Ready-Made Social Media ContentShare the following messages on social media to spread awareness of the Guard Your Health campaign and encourage healthy behaviors within the Guard community. These messages can be used on Facebook and Twitter through your professional and state accounts. You can also connect with us on Facebook (@Guard Your Health) and Twitter (@ARNGHealth) to engage with our page, share content, and retweet our messages.
y Always ready, always there. Stay mission ready with health and wellness tips from @Guard Your Health.
y Stay mission ready with health and wellness tips from @ARNGHealth.
y APFT coming up? Get fit with tips and motivation from @Guard Your Health.
y Looking for ways to improve your fitness? Get tips and inspiration from @ARNGHealth.
y Take your health and fitness to the next level with tips and motivation from @Guard Your Health.
y Take your fitness to the next level. Follow @ARNGHealth for tips and motivation.
y Be the best Soldier you can be with health tips and inspiration from @Guard Your Health.
y Looking for fitness motivation? Follow @ARNGHealth for tips on eating, exercise, and more.
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GUARD YOUR HEALTH
Sample Guard Your Health Brief Use the following sample brief during presentations to help create awareness about Guard Your Health, its goals, and the resources that can be accessed at www.guardyourhealth.com.
IssueThe Chief Surgeon’s mission is to build a medically ready force to support force protection and fulfill the Army National Guard’s State and Federal missions. Readiness is critical for individual Soldiers as well as for the unit.
BackgroundAt this time, the Chief Surgeon’s goal is for 85 percent of the National Guard to be medically ready for duty. In the past 14 years, there have been more than 760,000 individual overseas mobilizations from the Air and Army National Guards due, in part, to the rise in mobilizations after 9/11. This is the largest number of mobilizations in the history of the Guard. While mobilizations are recently drawing down, it is important to maintain a ready and fit force that can mobilize at a moment’s notice. To promote medical readiness, the Army National Guard has implemented programs to help address comprehensive fitness and overall well-being for Soldiers and their families.
Current StatusCurrently, the Army National Guard has achieved a medical readiness rate of 85 percent, the highest in its history. However, there is still more work to be done to reverse the negative effects of tobacco and alcohol use, poor nutrition, stress, poor sleep habit, and behavioral health concerns that keep our Soldiers from being mission ready. The Army National Guard’s Army Physical Fitness Test, or APFT, pass rate is 79 percent. Additionally, studies show that 27 percent of American young adults between the ages of 17 and 24 are unable to serve in the Armed Forces due to excess weight. Within the civilian population, 68.8 percent are overweight, including 35.5 percent of the population classified as obese. The National Guard must provide information and resources to empower Soldiers to be personally responsible for their health and well-being in order to maintain a force that is fit to serve.
Key ConsiderationsIt’s much harder for Soldiers to meet the demands of their job if they are not fit and duty ready. These demands extend into their civilian life, where Guard Soldiers must balance the needs of their civilian job and family life with their Guard duties. Individuals who do not pass the APFT may face administrative action. Loss of personnel can result in a significant financial loss due to the time spent training an individual and the cost to recruit and train a replacement.
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Solution?In order to improve readiness and uphold the Guard’s mission to always be fit for duty, the Guard Your Health Campaign was created. The Guard Your Health campaign was created to give Army National Guard Soldiers the information, motivation, and support to overcome the unique challenges they face as Citizen-Soldiers and help them make healthy decisions for themselves, their families, and their units. It is necessary to spread awareness and support for the campaign in order to improve medical readiness across the National Guard.
Guard Your Health provides a central place online for Army National Guard Soldiers and family members to find information and resources on health and medical readiness. Guard Your Health uses scientifically-proven tools and techniques on platforms Soldiers use every day to educate, inspire, and activate Soldiers and families to make healthy decisions. Site visitors can access health tips, state crisis contacts, a special Guard Life section, an Ask-the-Experts feature, Guard benefits information, and motivational Guard stories on topics such as nutrition, exercise, stress, sleep, dental health, sexual health, tobacco cessation, illness prevention, and family resilience.
Key TakeawaysEncourage your units to take advantage of the Guard Your Health campaign; utilize the tools, information, and resources available. Help spread awareness of the campaign by connecting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr. Promote Guard Your Health in your organization’s newsletter or email blast. Finally, motivate Soldiers to get their health questions answered by a panel of Army National Guard health experts by submitting their questions on the Guard Your Health website.
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GUARD YOUR HEALTH
Sample Logos, Graphics, and InfographicsGuard Your Health has high resolution logos, graphics, and infographics available and ready to use.
Logos Use the Guard Your Health logos below when you are promoting the campaign. Download high resolution logos from the Guard Your Health Supporter Toolkit (http://www.guardyourhealth.com/community/toolkit/).
GraphicsUse the sample graphics below on your website, in a newsletter, on your social media channels, or in your print materials. Browse and download more high resolution inspirational quote graphics on the Guard Your Health Flickr page (https://www.flickr.com/photos/109190545@N07/).
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InfographicsGuard Your Health also features infographics that display health and wellness information and resources in visually-compelling, easy-to-understand images. Examples of health topics available include: exercise, nutrition, alcohol misuse, dental health, sexual health, tobacco-free living, spirituality, sleep, and a quick reference guide of benefits available for Soldiers and families. Visit the Guard Your Health Visual.ly page (http://visual.ly/users/arnghealth) to view and download infographics. Other materials can be downloaded directly from the website at http://www.guardyourhealth.com/materials.
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Contact UsHave questions or ideas? There are several ways to get in touch with the Guard Your Health team.
Guard Your Health http://www.guardyourhealth.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ARNGHealth
Twitter: https://twitter.com/arnghealth
Tumblr: http://guardyourhealth.tumblr.com
Send comments or questions about any materials you see on the Guard Your Health website to [email protected].
To schedule an interview with someone from the campaign, or for more information, please call the National Guard Public Affairs Office at (703) 607-2584 or send an e-mail at [email protected].
National Guard Bureau 111 South George Mason Drive Arlington, VA 22204-1382