On May 26, McLeod Children’s Hospital and the Boeing Center for Children’s Wellness hosted an achievement ceremony to announce the results of a wellness program recently implemented at ten schools in Florence School District One.

Since January, each school has been working to improve the health of their students and faculty, guided by a School Wellness Checklist© that awards points for each item implemented.

Lucy T. Davis Elementary School was named the overall winner and received a trophy as well as $3,000 for their wellness program.

Each of the nine remaining schools also received a $1,000 wellness achievement award for achieving at least thirty points from the checklist, which has seven components: getting started, nutrition, physical activity, wellness culture, stress management, employee connection, and sustainability.

Some of the wellness program’s results include:

100% of schools created a wellness mission statement 90% of schools created or maintained a sustainable indoor or outdoor garden90% of schools promoted drinking water with a water campaign50% of schools increased physical activity by incorporating "brain breaks" or "deskercises" into their daily routine 60% of schools encouraged staff to take exercise breaks during the day100% of schools participated in the Docs Adopt component

In 2014, McLeod Children’s Hospital partnered with Florence School District One to implement the Docs Adopt© School Health Initiative as part of a grant from the Boeing Center for Children’s Wellness. Established in 2007, Docs Adopt© focuses on helping schools establish and implement healthy practices in an effort to decrease childhood obesity.

McLeod Physicians participating in the initiative "adopt" a school and work with a committee to set short-term and long-term goals based on the School Wellness Checklist©. The physicians offer hands-on guidance and education in areas such as nutrition, physical activity, and stress management to achieve those goals.

Participating schools included: Wilson High School, South Florence High School, Sneed Middle School, Southside Middle School, Briggs Elementary School, Delmae Elementary School, North Vista Elementary School, Greenwood Elementary School, Lucy T. Davis Elementary School, and Lester Elementary School.