News

With an active Healthy Start/Départ Santé (HSDS) team, our project is covering a lot of ground and we thought we’d share where we have been since the beginning of our third year of implementation. Since August 2015, HSDS has added 37 new centres and prek’s in 27 new communities. To date Healthy Start is implemented in the North West, far North from Buffalo Narrows to Beauval and Pinehouse. Many on-reserve and off-reserve centres including Head Start programs are now part of the project. In the next couple of weeks, the team is heading to La Ronge, Yorkton, Humbolt and Christopher Lake for trainings in childcare centres and prekindergartens.

August 25, 2015 was an historic day for Healthy Start/Départ Santé! It was the first training of the season and it was with Meadow Lake Tribal Council at Flying Dust First Nation. During the 5-hour training, 31 participants from 8 daycares and 7 Head Starts learned about our program and our resources. The ladies from MLTC were very active, and some competitive, with the activities we provided from LEAP BC™ HOP-but all in good fun.  Training went great! Special thanks to Joanne Derocher and Evelyn Fiddler who arranged everything, and who were very friendly and hospitable hosts. We look forward to this new partnership with MLTC!

One of the many exciting (and fast-paced) jobs associated with Healthy Start/Départ Santé is data collection. Run, throw the ball, anthropomorphic measurements, plate waste analysis and environment scans are some of the terms and phrases that you will hear throughout the two days of data collection, when spending time with the Healthy Start team at a childcare centre. During the summer months, the HSDS team has been fortunate to have the assistance of summer students from Quebec as well as a MPH Practicum Student from the University of Saskatchewan. The project`s main objective is to promote physical activity as well as healthy eating to children aged 3 to 5 years old in childcare centres. Here are some recollections from students, in the field, on what they thought of data collection: It`s Day 1 and I am approaching the childcare centre with my colleagues. The first thing we hear is children laughing outside. Upon entering, we are introduced to the Director and some Educators of the centre. We quickly prepare our materials to do anthropometric measures; these include a scale, a measuring tape and will be our tools for the next half hour. To finish this task, we need to have a number assigned to each child to ensure they are anonymously identified. With luck, these stickers will stay in place until the end of the day.   Another student stresses the importance of accuracy when recording pertinent information: Data collection is, for one part, a very serious job; you have to be on point with your numbers, practices and concentration in order to gather very specific data. On the other hand, I found data collection to be very entertaining, stimulating and overall a wonderful experience. Here’s why: I had done research before, with animals and in the anthropology field, but this was a first time with children.   There are numerous components associated with data collection beyond simply collecting anthropomorphic data. An interesting part is the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-11). The second part of data collection is a recorded series of physical activities that test children’s gross motor skills. Some of these activities, like running, might appear as simple tasks for most of us. They tend to be a little bit more demanding for the kids, who were all between the ages of 3 and 5 years old. They each had to do a series of nine gross motor skills, including kicking a soccer ball, throwing and catching balls, jumping on one foot or even galloping “like a horse”.   At this point in the day, the children`s personalities really begin to show as some can be a bit silly by “planting themselves in front of the camera where all you can capture is their performances of grimaces and funny faces.“ At this point the camera person will need to film a second time to ensure the skill is captured on film and can be properly analyzed later on. Lunchtime can also be a lot of fun at the centres and requires a lot of quick handling, measuring and photographing of meals with the Plate Waste App on the tablets. Research assistants need to take note of which children are participating in the study (with prior parental consent) and keep track of extra servings provided. Even another glass of milk needs to be noted. “Meanwhile, Holly Hallikainen, the Evaluation Coordinator, would weigh the children`s full plates before eating and leftovers afterwards to know exactly how many grams of food the children had eating.“ After lunchtime, it is time for a siesta! It is also a moment for us to catch our collective breaths. The environmental scan questionnaire (NAPSAC) will be taken out of its folder and we will walk around the childcare centre to interview Educators on different aspects of the centre. Once naptime is finished, we will continue to evaluate fundamental movement skills until mid-afternoon.   When reflecting back on data collection: If this experience has taught me anything, it would be that physical activity and healthy eating are essential to the well-being of children. If we teach them early on how important it is to stay active, sleep well and eat healthy, I think these kids will grow up as functional and healthy adults later on in life. This experience was eye-opening, and I’d do it all over again if asked again!   The HSDS Team would love to have them again!

‘’And to think that we began this project with about five people.’’ This phrase reflects the substantial development of the Healthy Start/Départ Santé initiative. On Tuesday, June 23, 2015 the HSDS Partnership Engagement Meeting was held at Station 20 West and was attended by over 30 people, who are currently involved in the project. Qualitative data on the impact of this initiative, aimed at increasing physical activity and promoting healthy eating in early learning environments, was presented. There is a growing demand from childcare centres to receive the Healthy Start / Départ Santé training. Comments were presented from different early learning centres demonstrating how they changed the way they operate to include more balanced meals and increase physical activity in their daily routines. The meeting also included various interactive activities during which a number of important themes and objectives emerged, including: Expand the initiative to include minorities (First Nations, Inuit, immigrants, Francophones, etc.) and non-licensed childcare; Aim for more provincial coverage and political representation of the program; Embed the project into Early Childhood Education (ECE) programs at Colleges and Universities to ensure long-term sustainability; Identify ways to better inform, involve and train the parents of young children to make this initiative an integrated lifestyle in the lives of these children, and not just a school activity; Improve online resources to facilitate access and develop an online Healthy Start / Départ Santé training platform (in French and in English). It was interesting to see how all partners were able to collectively work together during the day and energetically share their future visions of this project. A lot of productive work to be done! There is no doubt that all these partners, engaged in one way or another, will lead this project to a higher level in the coming years!

The Healthy Start/Départ Santé team is excited to announce a new Project Coordinator for Regina and Southern Saskatchewan – Tracy Sentes. Being based in Regina, the Project Coordinator will help expand Healthy Start/Départ Santé to reach more places and provide support in the Southern part of the province. Tracy will also help build and develop partnerships with the surrounding early learning and childcare community. She will also facilitate a regional train-the-trainer workshop and a policy development workshop in the coming months – more information to follow in the fall. We are looking forward to further implementing the project and reaching more children in Saskatchewan! Healthy Start/Départ Santé would like to thank the Community Initiatives Fund for their generous support by making the Regina Project Coordinator position possible. Another big thank you goes out to Saskatchewan in motion for providing an office space in Regina. If you would like more information on the project or would like to connect with Tracy, please email her at [email protected].

At the end of February Healthy Start/ Depart Santé was happy to welcome two new Project Coordinators to the team in Saskatchewan.  Erica Stevenson, who has previously worked with Saskatoon Tribal Council in the Early Learning Centre and then in a 24 hour emergency home.  Mindy Bodnarchuk, brings a wide array of experience from working at Canadian National Institute for the Blind, as a Community School Coordinator with the Catholic School Division, as well as a head start program working with newcomers to Canada.   When asked what she enjoyed most about being part of the Healthy Start/Départ Santé project, Erica indicated that ‘being proactive and helping childcare centres and in the end families to lead healthier lives.’ She adds, “Children learn habits at a young age.  Teach them healthy habits to carry on into adulthood.”  She used to work in two child care centres most recently in a 24 hour emergency home.  Erica is a Mom to an (almost) 3 year-old. She has enjoyed putting the LEAP BC TM – Food Flair resource into practice with her family, especially concepts from the Feeding Relationship where “the adult provides and children decide”. Erica has found that there is no pressure around mealtime in her household.  She explains, “My son has always been a big eater and rarely dislikes foods he tries.  He is so proud to serve himself his own meals. It also gives us, as a family, a chance to talk about food and to work on table manners with him.”   Mindy likes that Healthy Start/Départ Santé is striving to increase healthy eating and physical activity in Saskatchewan, especially with childhood obesity in the province being on the rise. She appreciates that the project works with remote centres where access to nutritious food can be an issue, and recognizes that each community and centre has its own unique culture. Mindy enjoys working in partnership with each centre and their established strengths to form healthy eating and physical activity goals that fit within the community.  Sharing information is an important part of her position, and she finds that both Food Flair and HOP (Healthy Opportunities for Preschoolers – LEAP BC TM) to be very user-friendly. Having a niece and nephew, she recognizes the importance of exposure to these initiatives at an early age.   Welcome to Mindy and Erica!