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Health & Fitness

Jackson Avenue Elementary Rewarded for Having Physically Active Students

Kaiser Permanente supports Fire Up Your Feet Activity Challenge

Students, families and staff at Jackson Avenue Elementary in Livermore recently participated in the Fire Up Your Feet Activity Challenge, competing to win awards to support physical activity and wellness programs at school. 

At participating schools, parents, students and school staff kept track of their physical activity during the month of April using the Fire Up Your Feet online activity tracker. Schools could win awards in several categories, including most overall participation, highest weekly activity tracking numbers, most bike activity, and more.

“This was a true team effort,” said Shari Johnston, principal at Jackson Avenue Elementary. “Our teachers, staff, students and their families are all making health and physical activity more of a priority. And when school resumes this Fall, we plan to pick up right where we left off.”

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"Kaiser Permanente is pleased to partner with Safe Routes to School National Partnership, schools wellness champions, students and their families to help create healthier school environments where everyone can thrive," said Loel Solomon, vice president, Community Health, Kaiser Permanente. “Healthy schools are a key component of our approach to creating Total Health for our members and the communities we serve.  Fire Up Your Feet is a great way to engage more people in this important work while providing schools with resources they can really use to increase physical activity before, during and after school."   

Jackson Avenue plans to put their rewards towards the purchase of equipment to support students in soccer activities during recess.

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In California, 9,000 participants tracked more than 10 million minutes of activity. The challenge also took place in Colorado, Hawaii and the Metro Atlanta area.

The next Activity Challenge will take place October 1-31 in California and is open to any K-8 public, private or charter school.  Sign up at fireupyourfeet.org.

Fire Up Your Feet was implemented as part of Kaiser Permanente Thriving Schools in 2013. Through the Spring and Fall challenges, Kaiser Permanente and Fire Up Your Feet have awarded more than $114,000 to participating schools as of May 2014.

 

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About Fire Up Your Feet:

Fire Up Your Feet is a core program of Safe Routes to School National Partnership, available to any elementary or middle school (grades K-8) nationally. Made possible through funding from the Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit Fund at the East Bay Community Foundation, the program offers free resources including an online activity tracker, and a school fundraising organizer, all aimed at increasing physical activity before, during and after school for students, parents, staff and teachers. The National PTA is actively partnering to encourage family engagement to support both child and family health.

The Safe Routes to School National Partnership was founded in 2005 and works to advance safe walking and bicycling to and from school and in daily life, to improve the health and well-being of America’s children and to foster the creation of livable, sustainable communities. For more information, go to saferoutespartnership.org.

About Kaiser Permanente:

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and non-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve approximately 9.3 million members in eight states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to kp.org/share.



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