Past Projects
Growing Up Healthy: Prevention of Childhood Obesity
Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions across Canada. Among children and adolescents aged two to 17 years, more than a quarter are overweight or obese. In Alberta, current rates are slightly lower with just over a fifth of children and adolescents considered overweight or obese. This is an alarming trend since research shows that compared to children of healthy weight, overweight children are at increased risk for developing serious life threatening chronic health problems at a younger age.
In 2005, the Community Prevention of Childhood Obesity Coalition, the Calgary Health Region, and SACYHN partnered to address childhood obesity in the following areas:
- Guideline development - Calgary Health Region and Rocky View School Division healthy food guidelines
- Healthy growth monitoring - monitoring growth of grade 5 children in the Calgary area
- Treatment programs for children, youth and their families
- Urban and rural community development initiatives on healthy eating and active living for children and youth
- Participation in the Healthy Weights Social Marketing Campaign funded by Alberta Health and Wellness
SACYHN also worked with others to address childhood obesity beyond the Calgary Health Region by:
- Linking health regions in southern Alberta and central Alberta through the Inter-regional Childhood Obesity Working Group in an effort to support each other's initiatives on childhood obesity through communication linkages, mutual adoption of best practices, and development of similar standards of care across regions.
- Sponsoring childhood obesity education. In 2006 - 2007, a four-part education series was presented via TeleHealth technology to professionals in Alberta and Saskatchewan
For SACYHN documents related to Childhood Obesity please see the Publications page.
Primary Care
SACYHN works with primary care providers to help them enhance their professional knowledge and practice related to children and youth. In 2003, SACYHN received three years of funding from the federal Primary Health Care Transition Fund via the Alberta Health and Wellness Capacity Building Fund for two outreach initiatives: Healthy Infants (maternal risk factors) and Healthy Minds/Healthy Children (children’s mental health). Although the initial funding for these projects ended in 2006, both projects have been sustained through other funding arrangements and existing programs.
Healthy Infants
The Healthy Infants project aimed to:
- expand knowledge and increase evidence-based decision making of primary care providers in the screening, intervention, and referral of women for preventable maternal risk factors
- build lasting linkages inter-regionally and across health regions among primary health care providers in southern Alberta
The primary objective of the Healthy Infants project was to decrease the incidence of adverse birth outcomes in southern Alberta. Through consultations with partnering Health Regions (formerly regions 1-4) and Treaty 7, it became apparent that no one partner used a standardized screening tool/surveillance method to monitor the risk profile of pregnant women in southern Alberta. Therefore, the initiative and its partners developed a self-administered maternal health screening tool to help identify women who were likely to be at risk of an adverse birth outcome. The screening tool has a population health focus, allows primary care providers to access key information not currently available, and provides women with opportunities for appropriate support and referral.
In October 2006, the Alberta Perinatal Health Program became stewards of the Healthy Infants project and works with regional partners, Treaty 7 and Towards Optimized Practice (an Alberta health quality improvement initiative) to continue development of Healthy Infant deliverables at a provincial level.
For more information, please visit the Alberta Perinatal Health Program at: www.aphp.ca/index.html
Healthy Minds / Healthy Children
The goals of the Healthy Minds/Healthy Children project have been to:
- facilitate the acquisition and sharing of knowledge and skills in children’s mental health among primary care practitioners across Alberta
- help children and adolescents and their families access services closer to home s
- build coordination within and across health regions and First Nations in southern Alberta (e.g. supporting referrals and discharges to/from specialized or tertiary care)
Since its inception in 2003, the Healthy Minds/Healthy Children project has focused on supporting the efforts of primary health care practitioners in southern Alberta to meet the needs of children and youth in their own communities. Two major areas of focus have been:
- Clinical – consultations (in office, phone, telehealth) with primary care physicians regarding mental health aspects of their work with children and youth; presentations on topics relating to children’s mental health
- Professional development – resources that practitioners could use in their daily practices such as Information Prescriptions and a Desk Reference toolkit; online continuing professional development
In 2005, a grant from the Alberta Health and Wellness Telehealth Branch allowed the project to augment clinical services within telehealth based consultation. This included creation of a "virtual" clinical team comprised of children's mental health clinicians from various regions. This team uses video linkages to provide support to primary practitioners serving patients with mental health concerns.
In 2006, the Alberta Health and Wellness Mental Health Innovation Fund s allowed the work to be expanded, particularly the Continuing Professional Development program, which is now subscribed to from across as well as outside the province.
For more information, contact:
Harold Lipton
Manager, Healthy Minds/Healthy Children
Phone; (403) 943-7646
Email: harold.lipton@albertahealthservices.ca
Website: www.healthymindshealthychildren.ca
Whole School Mental Health Promotion Project (WSMHP)
What was the WSMHP Project?
In many cases mental health / emotional well being services are only available to students in crisis, and usually involve individual treatment plans and support AFTER problems have arisen. SACYHN partners recognized that there was a need to look at how we could build the emotional resilience of children and youth. The Calgary & Area SACYHN Committee launched a pilot project within four Calgary School hoping to:
- prevent problems arising in the first place
- give students strategies for tackling difficulties they come across that might cause them longer term emotional problems
- make the discussion of emotional issues a normal part of everyday school life and the curriculum
- assist schools to develop sustainable systems and structures to support the emotional well being of all students their care
The WSMHP pilot project wrapped up in the spring of 2008. Evaluation and process reports have been developed and research papers and other follow-up work is ongoing. For SACYHN documents related to the WSMHP please see the Publications page.
For more information contact:
Catherine Morrison
Calgary Region SACYHN Manager
Phone: (403) 955-2297
Email: Catherine.Morrison@albertahealthservices.ca
