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Highmark Healthy High 5 Overview

In September 2006, the Highmark Foundation introduced Highmark Healthy High 5 (HHH5), a $100 million, five-year health promotion initiative that supports lifelong good health for children and adolescents ages 6 to 18 in five strategic areas: •  Nutrition •  Physical Activity •  Bullying •  Self-esteem •  Grieving

The activities of HHH5 focus on prevention – the only intervention program is the KidShape program for overweight children.

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Objectives

•  Reach 1 million children ages 6-18 in 5 years.

•  Raise Awareness by communicating the importance of children’s health promotion through media, marketing and events, and convening experts to share best practices.

•  Change Behavior by engaging several strategic partners to implement initiatives and by providing grants for evidence-based programs that can impact behaviors.

•  Create Supportive Environments by engaging and educating parents and the community on how to develop healthy school and home environments.

•  Track and report outcomes to the Highmark Foundation Board of Directors, assessing changes in knowledge or behavior related to nutrition, physical activity, self-esteem and/or bullying.

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Strategy

Partners include:

•  The Caring Foundation •  The Heartwood Institute •  Innerlink •  KidShape Foundation •  Penn State Center for Activity & Nutrition Promotion •  SPARK •  Susan P. Byrnes Health Education Center •  Windber Research Institute

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Signature Partners were identified as agencies that have expertise and experience in one of the five topic areas.

Innerlink: Health eTools for Schools

•  Healthy eTools was developed partly in response to a Pennsylvania Dept. of Health mandate requiring schools to submit annual growth survey screenings (BMI) and to develop wellness policies that address obesity.

•  Health eTools is a secure web-based portal developed to provide school personnel with resources and tools that address childhood obesity and help schools meet these mandates.

•  eTools provides an electronic student health record that tracks BMI and fitness. It also provides health related curricula and policy development tools.

•  To date, eTools is in over 1,000 schools representing 484,000 students – 40% of those in the 49 county service area – and has exceeded the enrollment goal of 400,000 students.

•  Currently Innerlink is working with schools to assure the full utilization of eTools capabilities.

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KidShape: Intervention for Overweight & Obese Children

•  Highmark Healthy High 5 partners with 16 hospitals and community organizations to offer KidShape in 15 counties.

•  Kidshape is a behavior modification program for children with a BMI (body mass index) in the overweight range. Children participate with their families in an intensive nine-week program consisting of education, group exercise, and group and individual support. For growing children, weight loss is not the immediate goal. Instead, the program helps gradually reduce BMI to normal ranges by helping families to adopt healthier lifestyles.

•  1,369 kids and their families have completed the program since April 2003. Outcomes show 73% of kids decreased BMI or remained at same BMI level at the end of nine weeks.

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Penn State Center for Nutrition and Activity Promotion

•  Penn State Center for Nutrition and Activity Promotion created nrg Powered by Choice for high school students.

•  nrg Powered by Choice is a student-led campaign that uses the power of social networking to encourage healthy change in the school environment. nrg targets teens because they are highly influenced by peers.

•  Over 1 million youth were exposed to the nrg campaign through the website, conferences, and school involvement. Of those, 158,000 students in over 175 schools in 47 counties adopted a specific school project. Projects involve making an environmental change in the school, such as installing a salad bar, healthy vending machines, a climbing wall, etc. In 2010, these schools are being assessed to determine the impact of the environmental changes.

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SPARK Active Recreation

•  SPARK is a nationally researched physical activity after-school program for ages 5-14 that focuses on keeping kids moving through fun, non-competitive activities.

•  Highmark Healthy High 5 has established SPARK in over 175 after-school programs in 23 counties, making HHH5 the largest funder of SPARK after-school programs nationwide.

•  Over 10,000 children per year participate in at least 60 minutes of SPARK exercise per week through HHH5 programs. With SPARK, kids tend to exercise at a higher intensity level than they do in traditional after-school recreation programs. In addition to heart health benefits, kids enjoy SPARK, which helps them develop positive attitudes towards physical activity.

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Susan P. Byrnes Health Education Center

•  Susan P. Byrnes Health Education Center in York educates people of all ages about healthy choices. Programs feature a variety of multimedia experiences along with high-tech exhibits and unique hands-on displays.

•  Through Highmark Healthy High 5 funding, Byrnes developed LearnToBeHealthy.org, a free, web-based learning resource for all ages, addressing nutrition and physical activity. Educators access lesson plans, interactive games and activities to use in the classroom, while children and teens can access games and resources from home. A site for parents provides resources tailored to their needs. In 2008, Byrnes worked with 30 community sites to expand LearnToBeHealthy.org resources to their community programs.

•  To date, LearnToBeHealthy.org has reached over 400,000 students in the 49-county service region. An independent evaluation of multiple student lesson plans found that students’ knowledge improved by up to 50%. Membership data show the site is popular with students, teachers, and parents alike. Byrnes is working to ensure sustainability and growth by creating a revenue stream through the sale of products, services, and educational programming.

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School Challenge Grant Program Awards of up to $10,000

•  The goal of the School Challenge Grant Program is to increase the capacity of schools to provide physical activity and better nutrition choices which will position students to adopt healthier behaviors.

•  All schools are eligible: public, parochial, charter, private, and special education.

•  Through December, 792 grants were awarded across all 49 counties amounting to $5,863,805. (Maximum award of $10,000.)

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Outcomes: School Challenge

•  A School Challenge Best Practices document was published in February 2010. Its purpose is to showcase the best school programs, to provide school personnel with creative ideas on how to successfully integrate lifelong wellness into their PE curriculum, and to provide strategies to evaluate impact.

•  Best Practice Schools Include: –  Plainfield Elementary School – Northampton –  Park Forest Middle School – Centre –  Margaret Bell Miller Middle School – Greene –  Gateway Middle School – Allegheny –  Colfax Upper Elementary School – Allegheny –  Sto-Rox Elementary School – Allegheny –  Cochranton Jr Sr High School – Crawford –  Mohawk Jr Sr High School – Lawrence

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Dollars Distributed by Category Through 11/30/09

$12,365,214

$15,243,844$13,543,741

$3,612,180

$11,571,190

Nutrition

PhysicalActivity

Grieving

Self‐esteem

Bullying

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*Note: Self-esteem remains an area of challenge because few applications have been received for effective self-esteem improvement programs.

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Awareness Initiatives

•  Presenting sponsor of the 2009 International Bullying Prevention Association Conference, held in Pittsburgh in November.

•  Annual presence at state conferences of school board members, principals, and physical education instructors.

•  Establishment of the Bullying Prevention Institute in 2007.

•  Publication of the report “Bullying Prevention: a Statewide Collaborative that Works” in November 2009.

•  Establishment of parent advisory groups in four regions.

•  Annual Survey of Awareness Conducted by Campos Inc.

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Campos Survey Findings

•  Campos Marketing Research has conducted three annual random surveys to determine awareness of the Highmark Healthy High 5 initiative.

•  Results show school personnel and parents alike believe these are important and appropriate initiatives for Highmark to undertake.

•  Recognition has grown over the years, although school personnel continue to be more aware than parents.

•  There is a disconnect between school personnel and parents: The majority of school personnel (47% to 62%) see the issues of nutrition, physical activity, self esteem and bullying as serious problems in their schools, but significantly fewer parents saw them as serious (17% to 23%).

•  This last finding has lead to a parent engagement initiative to determine a more effective way of reaching out to parents.

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Where Do We Go From Here?

•  Focus on maximizing impact and creating sustainability for existing Signature Partners and other grantees.

•  Continue to collect outcome data and publish findings to demonstrate impact.

•  Continue to develop the Parent Engagement component as a strategy to maximize impact.

•  Identify the most successful and promising programs/program area for funding consideration by the Highmark Foundation.

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In the remaining two years of the Highmark Healthy High 5 initiative some key strategies are as follows: