A grant program for Kansas School nurses
Healthy Habits for Life is a major grant-giving program of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Foundation. It is offered to help school nurses address a current major health issue in Kansas and the nation: childhood obesity.
During the first three years, Healthy Habits for Life grants in excess of $100,000 were used by 115 recipients to promote healthy lifestyle choices to their students. The foundation, which works with representatives from the Kansas School Nurse Organization in selecting worthy recipients, has distributed more than $40,000 for the 2009 academic year.
School nurses have a unique opportunity to teach students about healthy habits through curriculum and programs that reach them where they spend so much of their time - at school. As a young, captive audience, students can be more easily influenced to develop life-long healthy habits and behaviors. The foundation hopes that curbing childhood obesity now will translate into healthy adults later, saving health care dollars for all Kansans.
View a list of 2007 winners and summaries of their programs.