The Maryland Rural Health Association will honor the Worcester County Public Schools Health Literacy program with an “Outstanding Maryland Rural Health Program” award at their conference in Ocean City on Thursday, October 29, 2015. As reported on Delmarva Now:

The award is given to programs that impact the rural health of Maryland. Criteria includes quality of service, creativity, coordination of care between providers and demonstrated outcome.

The committee responsible for choosing the award recipient was impressed at how the hospital and school system were tackling health issues in the classroom at such an early age, according to Michelle Green Clark, executive director of the Maryland Rural Health Association.

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The program started in the 2013-14 school year as a pilot for second grade students in Ocean City Elementary School. Last school year, it expanded to all second grade students in the county. This year, it expanded to all first- through fifth-graders in the school system.

Examples of what is being taught to the students include germs and how to talk to doctors for first-graders, healthcare and exercise for third-graders and mental health in fifth grade. Nutrition is a central theme in all grade levels.

Hospital staff worked with teachers to think of ways to implement health concepts in existing lessons. For a math lesson, for example, students may learn how to read a food label to learn math skills instead of trying to solve the traditional math problem typically involving a Train A and a Train B.

For more information read the full article in Delmarva Now.