{"id":7715,"date":"2014-02-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/togethercounts.com\/promoting-healthy-lifestyles-with-the-help-of-the-medical-reserve-corps\/"},"modified":"2014-02-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-13T00:00:00","slug":"promoting-healthy-lifestyles-with-the-help-of-the-medical-reserve-corps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/togethercounts.com\/es\/promoting-healthy-lifestyles-with-the-help-of-the-medical-reserve-corps\/","title":{"rendered":"Promoting Healthy Lifestyles with the Help of the Medical Reserve Corps"},"content":{"rendered":"

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How can you take your community\u2019s talents and use them to make children healthy and active? Monmouth County, NJ, found a way by engaging a variety of health and educational professionals to pilot a \u201cSchool Health Council\u201d project called, \u201cAction for Fitness in Monmouth County.\u201d In 2010, Monmouth County piloted a School Health Council to promote healthy eating and exercise among schoolchildren, as well as to educate students and families about nutrition and fitness. The School Health Council was comprised of local health officials, a school administrator, school nurses, teachers, parents and members of the local Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) unit, the Monmouth County Health Department MRC.<\/p>\n

The MRC is a national network of over 200,000 volunteers organized into almost 1,000 local units across the country. While many volunteers have a medical background, a significant number of volunteers are non-medical people who are interested in making their communities a better place by educating residents on how to be prepared for a disaster or sharing healthy lifestyle information. MRC units participate in activities based on the needs of their communities; in this instance, five volunteers were happy to share their medical expertise in the implementation of the School Health Council project.<\/p>\n

In 2010, the School Health Council project pilot launched at Farmingdale Public School in Farmingdale, NJ, with the goal of increasing fitness, improving nutrition education and decreasing students\u2019 body mass indexes (BMIs). To do so, the School Health Council implemented strategies recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to promote healthy lifestyles in children and parents. These strategies, which could be implemented in any community, included:<\/p>\n