CHILDREN'S HEALTH Pa. official praises Farrell for fitness

The school district is making a concerted effort to keep its pupils healthy.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
FARRELL, Pa. -- Michelle Davis thinks some of the nutrition and physical fitness efforts in the Farrell Area School District are model programs that should be implemented across Pennsylvania.
Davis, deputy secretary for Health Planning and Assessment for the state Department of Health, took a quick tour of Farrell's facilities Thursday.
"What has been put in place here really makes a difference," Davis said, taking particular note of the district's Fitness Center, which opened in February.
Statistics kept by the center show that 120 high school students using the facility from March 15 to May 15 of this year lost a total of 570 pounds.
Blood pressure was lowered for each student and the resting heart rate dropped an average of 10 points per student.
Davis called the results "remarkable" and suggested model programs like this one should be operating in schools across the state.
"Physical education and nutrition need to start early," Davis said, noting that Farrell has programs for children from 4-year-old preschoolers through 12th grade.
Programs
The "Color Me Healthy" nutrition program for preschoolers drew her attention. The children taught her how to line dance during her brief visit, she said.
She was also impressed by an elementary school program that will give every pupil, as well as teachers, pedometers to wear to measure the distance they walk around the school in a day. Lou Paris, elementary physical education teacher, has made walking into a contest to encourage participation.
Davis' visit gave the school district a chance to showcase its School Health Council, which was formed in January, said Lynne Powell, the district's community outreach specialist.
The council is an advisory body to the school board.
Powell said the district has removed the pop and candy from its cafeteria vending machines, replacing them with water and juice.
Grants
The district has been awarded a $40,000 grant from Highmark Blue Cross-Blue Shield to launch a nutrition curriculum and has been told by the state Department of Public Education that Farrell is getting a grant to launch a Fruit & amp; Vegetable Pilot Program.
The amount of that grant hasn't been determined yet, but Powell said the U.S. Department of Agriculture is involved.
A total of 600 pupils will be given specially packaged fruits and vegetables five days a week as an 11:30 a.m. healthful snack, she said.
Some pupils don't get to eat lunch until after 1 p.m. and hungry children aren't always the best learners, Powell said.
The idea is to introduce them to healthful new foods and later to determine the relationship between discipline and hunger.
"We're bound and determined to get the children in our community healthy," Powell said.
gwin@vindy.com