July, 2014                                                               The CATCH Programs
 
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Welcome from CATCH USA!
CATCH The Wave!

 

As CATCH approaches its 27th year in schools, I can't help but think back to our early days when we were developing a new coordinated school health program with the help and funding of NIH (National Institutes of Health) and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes (among others). Researched and developed by four prestigious learning and research institutes, CATCH now enjoys wide acclaim and can be found in thousands of schools and after-school settings. 

We are also proud of the fact that CATCH has been the inspiration for other nutritional and physical activity programs who have built on the evidence-based research that has made CATCH the leading health promotion and childhood obesity prevention program in the country. 

So as we enter this new school year, we again invite you to discover CATCH and make a difference in a child's health now, and in the future. 

Peter Cribb, MEd
National CATCH Director
The University of Texas-School of Public Health
The Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living 


 
Around the country

CATCH-Where the FIT Kids Play!
Pecos County


You know we love to hear from our CATCH communities out there and we are constantly looking to bring you stories on how others are using the program. This month we have a very special story on how a hospital and community can work together to bring CATCH and healthy messages to an entire county. 

Alexsis Ramirez manages the fitness center for the Pecos County Memorial Hospital and also serves as the CATCH Coordinator. The hospital received a grant for CATCH and has made the most of it by hosting a CATCH Kids Club every first Saturday of the month as a "CATCH on Campus" during the school year. They also have a great slogan: CATCH-Where the FIT Kids Play!

This summer she coordinated a Kid's Boot Camp for kids in their county (free) and CATCH USA asked Alexsis to tell us what's happening in Pecos County!
 

We hosted our first CATCH Kids Club November 2013 with 7 children. To date, we have over 130 children registered for Saturday CATCH Kids Clubs. One Saturday a month we keep the kiddos for 2 hours. Our focus is kinder through 6 grade but we never turn anyone down. Our youngest participants are 2 years old, anyone in 6th grade and up we invite to volunteer as Junior CATCH Coaches.
Something that makes our time special is that we encourage our parents to be involved, it gives the kids another healthy role model to look up to! During those 2 hours we do GO activities that include aerobics with Coach Alexsis, mini Boot camp with Coach Robert, obstacle courses, races, games, and trail runs. We also always take time for a Healthy Lifestyle lesson that includes topics such as screen time, how to choose foods that work with your body, reading labels, teaching children the positive effects of being healthy, and the negative effects that come from an unhealthy lifestyle. Of course we end our CATCH Kids Club with a healthy snack, the health benefits of the snack are usually discussed during our Healthy Lifestyle lessons. 

After the first time attending CKC, each child has the opportunity to earn prizes for their attendance. After attending 3 CKC our kids earn a free shirt! Our "secret to living a healthy life" is 5-2-1-0. This is something we have printed on our CATCH shirts and teach every child we come in contact with. 5 servings of fruit or veggies a day, 2 hours or LESS of screen time, 1 hour or MORE of GO Activities, and ZERO sugary drinks! When you add 5+2+1+0 you get 8! Goal is for 8 glasses of water a day or MORE!
Another fun part of our program is CATCH on CAMPUS. In the Fall we worked with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders after school on their campus. We use the same format as CKC, staying active for 2/3's of the time and using the remaining 1/3rd as a health lesson. In the spring we work with the kinder and first grades. We have had wonderful feedback from parents, the children in Fort Stockton are not only learning, but putting what they have learned into practice.
Our goal is to make Fort Stockton children not only the best educated on overall health, but also the most FIT kids in West Texas! This summer we held a Kids Boot camp at our Wellness Center, it was free to any student kinder through 8th grade. We met two days a week for 1 hour, again exercising but also making time to learn! Our boot campers also kept meal logs, we were able to go through the meal logs and see if they were eating enough fruits and veggies as well as protein and healthy fats. Meal tracking is always the best way to find out if you are feeding your body what it needs. Our kids only complaint about CATCH Kids Club is that we don't have it every weekend! We have a committed group of volunteers that make each CATCH Kids Club possible, we are very grateful to have them! 

That is awesome Alexsis! I know we can all learn from your example!
 
Click here to learn more about the great work Alexsis and her group are doing.

 

 

CATCH Spotlight

CATCH Early Childhood
Train the Trainers!
By John and Anita Krampitz 

 

Hosted by The Family Resource Center Association of Denver, this training brought in Program Directors from across Colorado to the high altitude of the Rocky Mountains to launch their CATCH Early Childhood training.

As resources become stretched throughout the Family Resource Center Association it only made sense to bring Program and Site Directors up to speed; strengthening their own staff by assuming some of the training responsibilities. Beckie Anderson, Director of Health Programs, Family Resource Center Association in Denver, looked for an evidence based program that would take their Early Childhood programs to a new level and she found what she needed in CATCH Early Childhood and Training of Trainers program.  

Peer teaching is an important part of the Training of Trainers process. CATCH organizes training around this concept as participants learn by explaining their ideas to others, and by participating in activities they will be teaching to new staff when they return to their home office. They develop skills in organizing and planning learning activities, working collaboratively with others, giving and receiving feedback and evaluating their own learning.

Participants are given the skills to be a Site Trainer through an introduction of teaching styles as well as variations being demonstrated by other participants.   Each participant is provided with a critique of their peer teaching by a Master CATCH trainer.  These workshops give the participants a great deal of knowledge of the CATCH program and ways to make it successful at their own site. 

In a broader sense, when Program Directors are also given the role of Site Trainer, the learning process, including emotional support, shifts during the learning experience. The Site Trainer takes an active role as group facilitator as well as initiating workshops and learning partnerships throughout the year. It is a winning strategy for an organization like the Family Resource Center.  

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CATCH in the News!
We have some great stories and news from CATCH Communities

Springfield collaborative focuses on reducing obesity
Springfield, Illinois

   

We love to hear from our CATCH Communities so we invite you to send along your pictures and stories. Please write us here!

CATCH Network
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Connect to CATCH on Twitter!

 

If you have a Twitter account, you HAVE to follow

@USACATCH, @DrSteveKelder, @MSDCenter, @DeannaHoelscher, and
@TexasTCORS.  

By following these five accounts you will receive:
  1. The latest cutting edge research on child and adolescent health.
  2. Notifications for funding your school health program.
  3. School health best practices from all over the country.
  4. Professional development opportunities on diet, physical activity, and tobacco prevention and control.
See you on Twitter!  

 


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