DoDEA highly values the health and well-being of every staff member and plans and implement activities and policies that support personal efforts by staff to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Each district/school establishes and maintains a staff wellness committee.
Staff wellness programs provide opportunities for the school faculty to engage in a wide variety of leisure time physical activities geared to adult interests and fitness readiness as well as nutrition education, physical fitness education, stress management and weight management.
Contact Information:
DoDEA Health and Wellness Program
4800 Mark Center Drive
Alexandria, VA 22350-1400
Our Nation is facing a health crisis, which has grown over the last thirty years to epidemic proportions. With one in every three children ages 2-19 overweight or obese, the time has come for all Americans to take action. There is considerable knowledge about the risk factors of childhood obesity on health and readiness to learn and the consequences of obesity on quality of life and longevity.
The dependent children of the military and civilian employees of the Department of Defense, for whom it is our mission to provide education and associated care, as well as the many employees of DoDEA worldwide, are not immune from the effects of the gradual, sweeping cultural changes that have caused this epidemic.
First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move Campaign involves everyone, all of us, as partners, working together to end this epidemic within a generation, so that children born today are provided with a healthy start that is maintained through healthy foods, physical activity and educational opportunities. Creating the culture of change needed to reverse the obesity epidemic is a long term process. It is first and foremost a process of building capacity among parents and caregivers (including school personnel) to become the advocates, role models and champions that children and youth need to have involved in their lives, showing them how to live healthy lifestyles.
All DoDEA constituents are invited to share with us, through the "DoDEA Health and Wellness Best Practices" found on this webpage, how your schools, families and communities are partnering to provide healthy food choices and daily physical activity opportunities for children and youth. So, "Let's Move, DoDEA"
Teach children about making healthy choices by explaining how "grow-and-go" foods will help them feel good and have fun at school. Grow-and-go foods are foods high in complex carbohydrates, good sources of protein, include vitamins and minerals and a moderate amount of fat.
Here are some quick and easy ideas courtesy of the Defense Commissary Agency for lunch and snacks that are grow-and-go foods:
Schools include nutrition education through the comprehensive Health Education Content Standards (pre-kindergarten through grade 12) and engage in nutrition promotion that is part of not only health education classes, but is also integrated into classroom instruction in subjects such as math, science, language arts, social sciences, physical education and elective subjects. This includes enjoyable, developmentally-appropriate, culturally-relevant, participatory activities, such as contests, promotions, taste testing, farm visits, and school gardens.
Nutrition education activities promote fruits, vegetables, whole grain products, low-fat and fat-free dairy products, healthy food preparation methods, and health-enhancing nutrition practices. An emphasis is placed on caloric balance between food intake and energy expenditure and links with school meal programs, other school foods, and nutrition-related community services.
Health education focuses on health literacy skills with an emphasis on accessing valid nutrition information, analyzing influences such as food marketing, as well as, setting goals and making responsible decisions related to food choices. School nutrition education and promotion includes informational dissemination to students, teachers, parents and other staff.