Services

Balance It Out: Arkansas^SM is designed to help families live healthier lives and all family members living in a household can participate. There are different types of services they can benefit from, including health coaches or group classes to help people learn ways to eat healthier or get exercise. There are also components of the program that help individuals and their families learn how to lose weight or stay at a healthy weight through exercise and healthier eating habits.

Healthcare services and patient education for the Balance It Out: Arkansas program are available to everyone in the 3 school designated school districts, regardless of healthcare insurance. These services are made available by the Arkansas Department of Health & Human Services and the initiative services will be implemented by Pfizer Health Solutions.

The Balance It Out: Arkansas program will introduce a variety of initiatives, including:

• Working with community lay health teams and school nurses to assist and coach at-risk children to better understand the health risks of a sedentary lifestyle and to make small, lasting changes to their behaviors
• Providing at-risk families with nutritional counseling, and classes on healthy cooking, healthy eating, and informed food shopping

Community Health Workers

The role of the Community Health Worker (CHW) is to provide peer support to participants, including health outreach, health education, and participant advocacy, and to serve as a community-based resource to improve the health and well-being of participants in the Balance It Out: Arkansas program. As an integral member of the health care team, the CHW works within the team to assist and empower participants in self-management skills.

The CHW is supervised either by the director of the Coordinated School Health Program or the Area Health Education Center (AHEC). The CHW is based in the community, working either at designated schools or in offices. Among the CHW's responsibilities are to:

• Provide health education, support, referrals, and resource information
• Develop relationships with the participants, including family members
• Establish and maintain participant contact, in-person or by telephone
• Conduct group classes on health education, exercise, and nutrition
• Refer participants to appropriate community resources as needed
• Be an advocate on the participant's behalf as necessary
• Lead activities with participants such as supermarket field trips
• Be a liaison to community groups, school organizations, and medical societies