The Fountain Hills School Health Council has been in existence since January of 2012. The Health Council works to improve student and family health in the community. School health councils are in existence across the country in many communities.

Made up of various segments of the community, including School District staff, the business community, government, and others, the group has several goals.

School health councils can:

*Help improve student health and create healthier schools.

*Support school-health staffed programs.

*Be a voice of support for healthy children and families.

*Serve as a forum for sharing youth and family health information and resources.

The issues faced by youth today are much more complicated than they were years ago. More than ever, the health of children and families are dictated to a large degree by behaviors that are chosen.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the six behaviors that account for the most serious injuries and premature deaths in the U.S. are:

*Use of tobacco – more than 3,000 youths start smoking every day.

*An unhealthy diet – three quarters of our youths do not eat the recommended daily amounts of vegetables and fruit.

*Drug and alcohol use.

*Unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases – almost one million youths become pregnant yearly.

By providing programs that reduce health risk and prompt behavior changes, the CDC says that for every dollar invested the returns are:

*Tobacco education programs - savings of $26.45.

*Drug and alcohol prevention - savings of $5.69.

*Prevention of early and unprotected sexual activity, a savings of $5.10.

The Fountain Hills School Health Council hopes that the community will continue to support the efforts of promoting health and healthy choices to our youths and their families. We will be renewing our efforts again this fall with the start of the new school year.