Rolesville Students Get Energized!

Rolesville Elementary School students will be “getting energized” at the kick-off for year three of the “RAH! for Rolesville: Really Awesome Health” education program on September 26. Because North Carolina youths are four times as likely to be obese,* this year’s program will begin with a focus on the importance of physical activity.
The kick-off lesson will teach children ages kindergarten through fifth grade the importance of exercise and physical activity. It will emphasize that many of the activities that children engage in everyday, such as walking the dog or riding a bike, can be considered “physical activity.” Through interactive songs and dancing, students will learn the benefits of an active lifestyle.

Poe Center educator Durgesh Kudchadkar said teaching children about the importance of activity is key in having life-long health habits. “Children cannot often control what they eat, but they can control what they do. It empowers them to be able to decide if they want to watch TV after school, or go outside and play, and they know the consequences of both.”

Through interactive lessons such as physical activity, RAH is a one-of-a-kind program that finds unique ways to educate children about their health. The program is a partnership between Raleigh Community Hospital, the Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education and Rolesville Elementary School that puts professionally trained health educators in the classroom for hands-on lessons for the students, staff and parents of Rolesville Elementary School. Some topics covered through the program include dental health, nutrition, fitness, tobacco prevention, safety, hygiene, violence prevention and self-esteem.

RCH Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Carla Hollis, said the program is a way for RCH to have a life-long impact on students. “This unique program enables us to reach each child at Rolesville Elementary School and provide the knowledge and skills they will need to begin a pattern of a healthy lifestyle and to continue and maintain this lifestyle.”

Raleigh Community Hospital is a 205-bed acute-care facility located one block north of the beltline on Wake Forest Road in North Raleigh. Raleigh Community Hospital is part of the Duke University Health System. A full-service acute care hospital, RCH’s range of services includes a 24-hour Emergency Department, Intensive and Critical Care, Child Birth Center, Rehabilitation, Newborn Hearing Screening, Diabetes Treatment Center, Hematology/Oncology, Radiation/Oncology and community education.

*Taken from BeActive.com