Cornerstones of Care DIET/HEALTHY ACTIVITIES WELLNESS PLAN

Transcription

1 Cornerstones of Care DIET/HEALTHY ACTIVITIES WELLNESS PLAN Committee Members: Director of Health services integration Cheryl Carson MS RD LD Nutritional Health Services: Personnel Manager, Administrative Manager

2 Purpose and Goals: Cornerstones of Care is committed to providing an education and therapeutic environment that promotes and protects children s health, well-being, and ability to learn by supporting healthy eating and physical activity. Realizing that some of the needed changes will impact costs and programs, monetary costs will be evaluated and program adjusted as needed to meet budgetary guidelines. Any increases in cost from current budget, will be addressed as needed. Therefore, it is the policy of Cornerstones of Care to: Engage students, parents, teachers, Nutritional Health Service professionals, health professionals and other interested community members in developing, implementing, monitoring and reviewing Cornerstones of Care nutrition and activity policies. All students enrolled in the Cornerstones of Care program will have opportunities, support, and encouragement to be physically active on a regular basis. Food and beverages sold or served at Cornerstones of Care will meet the nutrition recommendations of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Guidelines. These guidelines will include but may not be limited to the following programs: School Breakfast Program (SBP), School Lunch Program (NSLP) as well as the School Milk Program (SMP). Qualified nutrition professionals will provide Cornerstones of Care clients access to nutritious and appealing foods that meet the health and nutritional needs; accommodate the religious, ethnic and cultural diversity of the student body in meal planning; and will provide clean safe and pleasant settings and adequate time for students to eat. Cornerstones of Care Center will provide nutrition education and physical education to foster lifelong habits of healthy eating and physical activity. Cornerstones of Care will not attempt to dictate to the parents and guardians of the children enrolled in our programs on what food they can provide for their children; we will only attempt to educate them on making healthier choices for their children. 2

3 To Achieve These Policy Goals: I. Wellness Committee A committee consisting of department heads of the Cornerstones of Care met to develop goals. The Cornerstones of Care clients will be solicited to assist with menu development. The committee will assist in implementing, monitoring and reviewing and as necessary revising the nutrition and physical activity policies. The committee will also serve as a resource to Cornerstones of Care staff. II. Nutrition/ Quality Meal Service Cornerstones of Care is putting forth efforts to offer choices to the clients that give them the opportunity to follow Dietary Guidelines for Americans and USDA Guidelines, utilizing the NutriKids program for meal planning. Menus are planned based on the average healthy child and reflect preferences of Cornerstones of Care. Healthy eating is essential to achieve academic and physical potential, mental growth and lifelong health and well-being. The following techniques are used to further this effort: Menu Planning A. Our recipes are produced utilizing the NutriKids Program. B. Individual salt packets are available upon request. No shakers are on the tables. C. All scratch made ground beef entrées are prepared with 80/20 quality beef. Cooked ground beef is well drained of fat. D. All deli meats are very lean and trimmed of all visible fat. E. Most foods used in the program are baked, not fried. However, when fried, 100% sunflower, safflower, corn, or canola oils are used. French fries are usually limited to once or twice per week. F. Fresh fruit is served daily. G. Canned fruits are purchased in natural juice. 3

4 H. Fresh Vegetables are provided 3 to 4 times per week. Small salads are offered 2 to 3 times per week. Low fat salad dressings are available and encouraged. I. At least two milk choices are available: 1% or skim milk and skim chocolate milk. J. Breakfast is offered daily. K. Healthy selections (i.e. juice, granola bars, Chex mix snacks, popcorn, reduced fat and baked chips and fruit roll-ups) are offered as snacks. L. Food donations are incorporated into the menu to meet USDA requirements. M. Engage clients in taste testing of new products for menu planning. N. Bus schedules are adapted to serve breakfast to all clients each morning. O. Continue to offer meals that meet nutrition standards established by USDA, featuring a variety of healthy choices that taste good, are attractive and of excellent quality. P. Continue to use food preparation techniques to provide school meals that are lower in saturated fats, sodium and sugar. Q. A printout of the nutritional adequacy of the menus will be available upon request. R. Parents who provide a sack lunch will be provided a list of suggested nutritious foods to use in preparing their child s lunch. S. Staffs that eat meals with the children may be allowed to bring their own food as long as it is of a healthy nature, is consumed during set meal times and is not disruptive to the dining environment. Fast food meals are discouraged. T. Clients who have special diet requests per doctor s written orders will be honored as possible. The Consulting Registered Dietician will review these types of requests and will make menu recommendations when needed. U. Clients who have diet restriction requests per other means such as religion, personal preference, etc. will be responsible for communicating such request to his/her Teacher, the School Principal or the Kitchen Manager. These requests will be reviewed by Cornerstones of Care representatives and efforts will be made to honor the request. At a minimum, parents will be provided with a detailed menu so that they can prepare a sack lunch for their child for days when the menu contains an item that is inconsistent with their preferences. 4

5 Vending Operations Vending operations have been changed to support nutrition goals for students. 1. Clients have restricted Vending machine access during the school day as outline by USDA Rewards 1. Nutritional Health Services staff will not use of food and beverages as a reward for students. 2. When students have to miss a Cornerstones of Care provided meal due to appointments or field trips, the person arranging the appointment or outing should make efforts to obtain a sack lunch from the Cornerstones of Care Nutritional Health Services for the child. If this is not an option, the staff should take children to healthier food establishments for meals (i.e. choose a sub shop over a burger joint). Education 1. Cornerstones of Care clients will receive consistent messages regarding healthy choices throughout school, classrooms and from staff. 2. Child Care and Education staff will be offered nutrition education training as needed. The training will include USDA guidelines/requirements, healthy eating for the population served, with emphasis on wellness. 3. Nutritional Health Services staff will receive annual nutrition education training including USDA guideline/requirements, wellness programs as well as areas related to sanitation and meal service. 4. Display information posters in buildings and lunch rooms that reinforce heathy choice. 5. Consider integrating nutrition and healthy activities into core curriculum areas such as math, science and language arts. 6. Use outside sources such as Health Department, American Heart Association, etc. in developing curriculum. 7. Weekly menus are made available. 5

6 Dining Environment 1. Cornerstones of Care will provide a clean, safe enjoyable meal environment. 2. Cornerstones of Care will provide enough space and serving area to ensure all clients have access to school meals with minimum wait time. 3. Cornerstones of Care will make water available at all meals. 4. Adequate time will be provided to each client to enjoy eating healthy foods with friends. 5. Schedule lunchtime as near the middle of the day as possible. III. Recreation/Physical Activities Building nutrition knowledge and skills help children make healthy eating and physical activity choices. Physical activity is important not only as children but throughout the life cycle. Schools are a great place to influence students physical activity patterns. The health and physical education standards for the States of Missouri and Kansas are the standards that Cornerstones of Care works towards. The physical education curriculum will provide students fundamental health concepts and skills that foster healthy habits and behaviors for each student and others through sequential and coordinated teaching of physical education. Cornerstones of Care will provide a minimum of 90 minutes of quality physical education/fitness/and recreation therapy per student per week accompanied by a minimum of thirty minutes out outdoor recreation per day, where the client is encouraged to participate in physical activities organized but youth care specialists. We will create opportunities that are enjoyable that promote confidence in their ability to be physically active. The Fitnessgram program is a health-related fitness education program that is used by Cornerstones of Care. The purpose of Fitnessgram is to assist us in teaching health-related fitness education with a focus on teaching cognitive concepts and knowledge through activity, enjoyment of physical activity, and inclusiveness of all children. Presently we are using the Fitnessgram, which is a comprehensive health-related fitness and activity assessment and computerized reporting system. The Fitnessgram is a complete battery of health-related fitness items that are scored using criterion-referenced standards. These standards are age, and gender specific, 6

7 and are established based on how fit children need to be for good health. We test the children quarterly, and the results are printed and made available to parents and interested parties. The goals of the program include exposing students to a wide variety of physical activities, teaching physical skills to help maintain lifetime health and fitness, encouraging self-monitoring so students can see how active they are, and having students set their own goals, focusing on doing their best. IV. Volunteer Services/Outside Activities School celebrations that involve food during the school day should be limited to no more than one party per class per month (excluding birthday parties for students). Each party should include no more than one food or beverage that does not meet nutrition standards for food/beverages. A list of healthy party snack options has been developed to share with volunteer groups. Outside activities and volunteer services should be geared towards physical activity (i.e. walking or playing rather than watching a movie) as appropriate. During playground/recess periods, students will be encouraged to do physical activities. The evening schedule for students in residential will include a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity. V. Monitoring and Review This plan will be shared with all staff at Cornerstones of Care annually to ensure their understanding of their responsibilities in carrying out the Cornerstones of Care wellness policy. The committee members along with supervisory personnel will be responsible for reporting any concerns related to this plan to the attention of either the Kitchen Manager or the Vice President of Administration. A meeting will be convened with the entire committee as necessary to discuss any required action steps or needed alterations to the Cornerstones of Care Wellness Plan. The Wellness Committee will meet once per quarter during the first year of this policy and then once per school semester in subsequent years to ensure that this plan is being carried out in its entirety. 7