Tale of a Health Education Evangelist

By John Henry Ledwith | August 11, 2016
Senior Sales Manager, ETR

Someone asked me the other day, “Why are you such an evangelist for HealthSmart?” Actually, I get this question a lot. HealthSmart is ETR’s premiere health education program, and I talk about it all the time—not just as part of my job, but as part of my life.

If a friend mentions a disturbing new report about school bullying, or brings up the latest statistics about teens and tobacco, I’m likely to say, “You know, HealthSmart has some great lessons on exactly that topic!” If someone tells me their kids are attending a new school, I ask, “Are they using HealthSmart for their health education program?”

Sure. I’m an evangelist. But I’m a health education evangelist. I believe health is one of the most important topics we can bring to our children and youth. It can literally make life-and-death differences for them. And I happen to think that HealthSmart is absolutely the best health education program out there.

Let's Teach Health Like We Teach Math

Susan Telljohann, one of the developers of HealthSmart, also believes in the importance of health education. In a recent post on our blog, she suggests we approach health education the same way we teach math. We teach math skills sequentially over students’ entire school career. That’s how we prepare the engineers of tomorrow to create a successful future for our society. And it’s how we should teach health education, too—preparing the citizens of tomorrow to live long, rewarding, healthy lives.

Dr. Telljohann and the other developers of HealthSmart have brought together health education theory, research and classroom experience to create the most comprehensive, flexible, effective program in the field today. In fact, if you have 79 seconds, take a look at our new video about HealthSmart. It gives a great, quick overview of the program.

Empowering School Systems: The Science of Health Education

I believe in doing everything possible to empower school systems to teach health and teach it well. We make an impact when we start with science, connect it to a good theoretical foundation and align lessons with the National Health Education Standards. By these criteria, HealthSmart does really well.

The other key? Dedicated teachers. I know there are a lot of you out there because I enjoy the privilege of meeting you all the time. You are my heroes. Thanks for all you do.

 

John Henry Ledwith is ETR’s Senior Sales Manager. He can be reached at jhl@etr.org. And while he’s perfectly capable of talking your ear off about HealthSmart, he can also be quite temperate about it if you don’t have all day. Give him a call if you’d like to know more about this premiere health education program.