Jump Start Targets

Pre-K and Kindergarten Classrooms:
  • Daily lessons on nutrition and exercise (within homeroom classes, Specials- art, music, and PE classes)
  • Daily healthy snacks
  • Monthly, week-long health "challenges"
  • Monthly health and wellness information sent home to parents/family members
  • Vegetable Garden- planting, maintaining, and eating fresh-grown vegetables
  • PTO sessions- parent teacher organization participates in monthly "Healthy Households" series sponsored by LA AgCenter
  • SmartBodies- an educational program that aims to prevent childhood obesity will be initiated by LA AgCenter
The larger Pierre Part Community:
  • The local newspaper, The Bayou Journal, features articles on fitness and nutrition and reports on JumpStart events each edition
  • "JumpStart" website, jumpstartpierrepart.org, accessible to all community members, serves as a place to learn about and exchange health information and recipes and to find out about community-wide events
  • Monthly Nutrition Seminar Series at the local library
  • Grocery Stores: healthy food items are labeled, displays highlight healthy foods, new inventory will continually be encouraged; the store focuses on the same healthy foods promoted in the community-wide Nutrition Seminar Series, in the school snacks, breakfasts, and lunches, and in the Larrison Family Health Center
  • Park: walking trails and Kaboom! Playgrounds are being created
  • Community events: JumpStart has booths at the annual Pierre Part Food Fest and Health Fair, sponsors 5K Walk/Runs, and features a healthy eating display at the library
Policy changes within the school and larger community:
  • School breakfast and lunch program policy changes provide healthier school meals; taste-tests offer students the opportunity to sample healthy food items and determine which foods they would like incorporated into their meals
  • Meals on Wheels policy changes will provide healthier home-delivered meals
  • Other policy changes will be implemented based on need and individual initiative
Medical & Public Health Education for Tulane Medical Students:
  • Medical Students have the opportunity to rotate through the Larrison Family Health Center and/or the Teche Action Clinic during their Family Medicine clerkship
  • Medical students participate daily in planned JumpStart initiatives and have the opportunity to offer new and unique contributions to JumpStart initiatives based on individual passions and ideas
Monitoring and Evaluations: Tulane public health students monitor and evaluate JumpStart initiatives in partnership with the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (SPHTM) and the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI)
  • Qualitative assessment of cultural and behavioral change
  • Quantitative assessment of knowledge, attitudes and behavior about nutrition and physical activity
  • Quantitative assessment of grocery store sales trends
  • Student BMIs