Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital Announces
Online Heart Smart Resource for Teachers
HOUSTON (February 1, 2006) Just in time for American Heart Month, the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital is launching Project Heart, a heart-smart, online resource for teachers. The Project Heart website, which can be accessed directly at www.texasheart.org/projectheart, is a health resource for teachers, parents and students. With lesson plans at its core, the site is designed to help teachers develop activities for the classroom about the heart, healthy eating, and an active lifestyle. Not limited to teachers, the site provides a wealth of information, activities, and resources for any learning environment.
“As part of the Texas Heart Institute’s Heart Information Center, Project Heart extends our community outreach mission to educators by offering comprehensive curriculums for grades K through 3, with more grades to come,” said James M. Wilson, M.D., an interventional cardiologist and Director of Cardiology Education at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s. “Unfortunately, our kids are following the same path as adults. In Texas, two out of three adults are overweight or obese and currently one out of three school-aged children in Texas is overweight or obese. These kids have a higher risk of being overweight as adults, increasing their risk for cardiovascular disease and other health issues, likely at an earlier age.”
Each curriculum consists of complete lesson plans supplemented by classroom activity masters and extensive multimedia resources in Look, Listen, and Learn sections. Lesson plans developed for Project Heart are based on Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS); however, the curriculum materials are suitable for any learning environment. Each grade builds on the lessons and skills of the previous one and each one includes age-appropriate lessons in anatomy, nutrition, and exercise for a healthy heart.
“This project was made possible by the volunteer efforts of many educators throughout the greater Houston area. They evaluated our materials during development, assisted with developing additional lesson plans and learning activities and ensured that all lesson plans met TEKS criteria – a key standard for teachers to be able to use the curriculum,” said Donna Stewart, R.N., M.Ed., Instructional Designer/Developer in the Continuing Medical Education Department of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s.
Educators and school nurse professionals from seven Houston area school districts are currently participating in the project to extend curriculum materials through the sixth grade and beyond. Participating independent school districts (ISD) include Conroe, Cypress Fairbanks, Goose Creek, Katy, Klein, Pasadena and Waller.
“It has been wonderful to work together with a wide variety of districts. This is a fabulous project because it’s hard for teachers to find materials like these. It’s nice to share it,” said Karin Wallace, a science teacher in the Goose Creek ISD.
“The hardest part is fitting TEKS guidelines to the content. Because this curriculum is written by teachers for teachers, and it’s ready to use, teachers will be far more likely to use it in their classrooms,” said Danica Kenjura, the sixth grade science chair for the Wayne C. Schultz Middle School in Waller ISD.
These educators agree that over the last four or five years, they have observed students getting progressively heavier. They also expressed concern that students are getting inadequate exercise and health education in school.
“School nurses are conducting state-mandated Acanthosis Nigricans screening to identify students in the third, fifth and seventh grades who might be at risk for Type 2 diabetes and other chronic health problems. Next year the screening will be mandatory for first grade as well. We are identifying children this young as pre-diabetic,” said Cindy Leins, R.N., a school nurse in the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD. “By 2007, nutrition education will be integrated into the curriculum in Texas classrooms. Teachers are under a lot of pressure to teach TEKS-based science, reading and math. Project Heart is a great tool and it will make it easier for educators to teach heart health.”
The Texas Heart Institute, a non-profit organization, is currently seeking funding to have Project Heart materials translated into Spanish. Nearly 30% of the more than 2 million unique visitors to the website in 2005 were Spanish-speaking.
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World-renowned cardiovascular surgeon Denton A. Cooley, MD, founded the Texas Heart Institute in 1962 for the study and treatment of diseases of the heart and blood vessels. Together with the Institute's clinical partner, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, for the past 15 years it has been ranked among the nation's top ten heart centers in an annual survey published by U.S. News & World Report. For more information about the Institute, please visit www.texasheart.org.
St. Luke's was founded in 1954 by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. St. Luke's is home to the world-renowned Texas Heart Institute, founded in 1962. In 2001, St. Luke's earned the Magnet designation, the highest honor in patient care. It is the first hospital in Texas and the Southwest to be so honored. For more information about the hospital, please visit www.stlukestexas.com.
