Five of these strong partnerships, or 33%, were with the following high need districts: Brentwood (62% of students eligible for free or reduced price lunch); Freeport (48% of students eligible for free or reduced price lunch); Tuckahoe (only 9% of students declared eligible for free or reduced price lunch; however 49% Hispanic or Latinos, largely immigrant population); Uniondale (40% of students eligible for free or reduced price lunch); and Wantagh (39% of students eligible for free or reduced price lunch).
The Heart Links intervention included the following: 1) establishment of school district wellness committees that meet regularly; 2) education and awareness campaigns and programs for students, parents, teachers, administrators and board of education members to create support for meaningful, sustainable policy and/or environmental changes; 3) implementation of policy and environmental changes; 4) provision of incentives and resources, including comprehensive resource binders and policy templates; and 5) evaluation.
Program evaluation indicates that the Heart Links intervention was successful. Twenty-one of the 24 school buildings had an increase in either the percent of snacks or beverages sold from vending machines meeting standards. Thirty-seven of the 38 school buildings had an increase in either the percent of snacks or beverages sold on a la carte lines in school cafeterias meeting standards. Sixteen school districts (inclusive of 104 school buildings and 78,764 students) worked with the Heart Links staff to develop plans to use Dance Revolution game units, pedometers, Oriental Trading gift certificates, and/or Activity Works tool kits donated to the districts with grant funds to increase opportunities for physical activity before, during and after the school day. Among the 13 school districts (inclusive of 84 school buildings 64,824 students) for which pre and post height and weight data is available for analysis, there was an improvement in the prevalence of obesity, with a mean percent decrease in prevalence of obesity of 2.6% + 7.2.
The Heart Links intervention resulted in policy and environmental changes that are sustainable in the long term, thereby positively impacting students in the foreseeable future. The Heart Links director is a faculty member in the Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine and Director of the Department’s Dietetic Internship program. She has established networks with Suffolk and Nassau Counties Departments of Health, Eastern Suffolk BOCES, Health Nassau Coalition and the Long Island Obesity Coalition which will enable her and her students to facilitate sustaining and expanding the Heart Links intervention.