Osceola School District featured on website as a ‘success story’

Home

Other Sun Publications

FREE DELIVERY!
Get Free Delivery! Request your Osceola News Gazette Today.

Login Form

2013 Osceola Health

2013 Sexual Predator Sexual Offender List sexualpredatorcover13

Windows on the Classroom March 2013

School Calendar
2012-2013

View our other Special Sections

Osceola School District featured on website as a ‘success story’

Around Osceola

Wednesday, 06 October 2010 00:00

Heart disease and stroke, the first and third leading causes of death for men and women, are among the most widespread and costly health problems facing our nation today, yet they also are among the most preventable.
An innovative wellness initiative which has been put into place by the Osceola County School District has earned the district recognition and one of three nationwide feature spots on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention website.
Officials with the School District noticed an increase in health insurance costs for high blood pressure among its school bus drivers during the 2007-08 school year.
The U.S. Department of Transportation Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 and Florida statute 1006.25 require commercial drivers, including school bus drivers, to meet physical requirements, such as blood pressure control, in order to maintain their licenses. The School District used these laws to push for better high blood pressure control among its school bus drivers.
In 2008, the School District received funds from the Florida Department of Health’s Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program for employee wellness. With these funds, and in collaboration with its insurance carrier, the school district installed three health-screening kiosks at work sites for bus drivers as a part of its employee wellness program.
This combination of intervention and legislation shows how policy changes can help to improve the health of employees and create a healthy workforce.
To view the School District “success story” on the CDC website, visit www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/AAG/dhdsp.htm.