TFAH Applauds the Obama Administration for Showing Strong Support for Increased Collaboration between the Health and Education Sectors

Washington, D.C., January 15, 2016 – Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) applauds the Obama Administration for showing strong support for increased collaboration and coordination between the health and education sectors. The following is a statement from Richard Hamburg, interim president and CEO, TFAH and co-chair of the National Collaborative for Education and Health.

“The release of the Healthy Students, Promising Futures toolkit and joint letter from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Education is an important step in ensuring all of the nation’s children can succeed in school and life.

Healthy children are more prepared to learn, and academic success puts children on track for healthier and more productive lives.  The toolkit importantly recognizes the inextricable link between health and education — and provides communities with ways to take action to help this generation of children thrive.

TFAH, as a co-founder with Healthy Schools Campaign of the National Collaborative for Education and Health, is excited to see real, high-impact opportunities to improve joint outcomes – including through:

• Ensuring children have health coverage;
• Expanding reimbursable health services available in schools;
• Supporting wrap-around case management for at-risk students–including addressing health conditions and exposure to violence or trauma and toxic stress–to remove barriers to learning;
• Promoting nutrition, physical activity and health education; and
• Improved assessments of local community needs and building of partnerships across schools, hospitals, public health departments and others to provide services and programs that can better meet those needs.

We look forward to working with the Administration and state and local communities to support greater adoption and implementation of the Healthy Students, Promising Futures opportunities – and continuing to build toward a vision of healthy schools and communities for our children.”

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Trust for America’s Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority.