MEDIA ADVISORY

Mississippi School Nurses to be First in Nation to Offer Childhood Obesity Prevention Program

WHO: Mississippi Department of Education, Office of Healthy Schools
Mississippi State Department of Health

WHAT: More than 400 Mississippi school nurses will become the first school nurses in the nation to be trained by the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) to fight the rise of obesity in children in Mississippi through the SCOPE program - School Nurse Childhood Obesity Prevention Education. The program provides strategies for school nurses to assist students, families and the school community to promote healthy weight.
Additional training and discussion topics will include Novel H1N1 (Swine Flu) and immunizations.

WHEN: August 4-5, at 8:30 and 8:00 respectively.

Speakers include:
• Dr. Dan Jones (Chancellor of the University of Mississippi)
• Shirley Schantz (Education Director, NASN)
• Martha Dewey Bergren (Director of Research, NASN)
• Jennifer Coker (Executive Director, American Lung Association of MS)
• Dr. Mary Currier (State Epidemiologist)
• Estelle Watts, (State School Nurse Consultant)

WHERE: Marriott Hotel in Jackson, Miss.

CONTACT: MDE, Office of Communications: 601-359-1336
MSDH, Office of Communications: 601-576-7667