CHICKS RECEIVES FUNDING FROM THE DARTMOUTH CENTER FOR ADVANCING RURAL HEALTH EQUITY

CHICKS, the Climate and Health Initiative for Children in Kearsarge & Sunapee, has been selected for funding as an inaugural project of the Center for Advancing Rural Health Equity (CARHE) at Dartmouth.

The project is entitled “Supporting Community Collaboration to Address the Impact of Climate Change on Allergies and Asthma in Children in Rural NH”. The target audience is K-5 children (and parents/caregivers) who participate in after school programs at 4 sites of the Boys & Girls Club of Central NH: New London, Andover, Sutton and Warner. These children are from rural and predominately low-income settings.

CHICKS partners include the Boys & Girls Club of Central NH, Colby-Sawyer child development faculty and students, clinicians from Dartmouth Health Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Dartmouth Health Pulmonary Medicine, community nonprofits and volunteers, and CARHE staff.

The primary objectives of this pilot project are to design, implement and assess both a 10-week after school program for approximately 50 K-5 children to increase awareness of climate and children’s health, with a focus on respiratory health, and a resource guide for their parents that addresses local, state and federal resources that promote healthy homes, weatherization, energy efficiency and improved indoor air quality.

The 10-week after school program will launch in September 2023 at 4 Boys & Girls Club sites. Colby-Sawyer college students will implement the lesson plans at these sites. Key steps in the 6 month development of this cross-sector and community-engaged program are as follows:

  • Facilitation of two initial listening sessions with community, state and national leaders in climate, children’s health and education

  • Formation of a cross-sector Education Working Group for ongoing input on curriculum development

  • Review of existing climate and health children’s programming and selection of activities that met agreed upon criteria: fun, engaging, mixed-age collaboration, active learning, outside when possible, specific topics

  • Modification of existing lesson plans to create “Adventures in Climate and Health”, a developmentally appropriate curriculum that can be implemented by students or community volunteers

  • Development of an online survey (Qualtrics platform) to assess parental knowledge, attitudes and opinions about climate change and health

  • Creation of a Parent Advisory Council for input on lesson plans, including sequencing and methods of sharing information with families

  • Preparation of an information sheet for each lesson plan to provide context and increase confidence of volunteers

  • Development of a newsletter for each lesson to be shared with families, including background information, activities to do at home, and resources to learn more

  • Development of post-program surveys of children, volunteer program leaders, parents/caregivers and after school program staff

The family resource guide will be available to parents/caregivers in both print and digital versions in early November 2023, and is currently in the early planning stage. Additional information will be provided here in the coming weeks.

Project Team, Center for Advancing Rural Health Equity, Population Health Department, Dartmouth Health

Chelsey R. Canavan, MSPH, Manager

Katie M Keating, MPH, Project Manager

Sanjay G. Sagar, PhD, Project Manager

Project Team, CHICKS

Keri Brand, Health Promotion Advisor, Asthma Control Program, NH DHHS

Matthew Cahillane, MPH, Public Health Advisor

Diane Edwards, PhD, Faculty, Child Development, Colby-Sawyer College

Bob Friedlander Jr. MD, Founder NH HWCA and CHICKS

Sarah W. Hughes, MPAS, PA-C, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Dartmouth Health

James O’Hara, Kearsarge Regional Director, Boys & Girls Club of Central NH

Emily Thompson, BS, Director of Operations, NH HWCA