A friendly battle of sorts was able to take place inside the Elizabethton Parks & Recreation facility Tuesday.
In a collaborative effort between the Carter County Health Department, Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library, Elizabethton Parks & Recreation and the Carter County UT Extension office, residents were treated to a friendly homeschool Nerf war to commemorate Child Health Week.
Starting as an idea from her son, Carter, the health department’s tobacco settlement instructor, Jilian Reece, was said she was happy to see the fruits of Tuesday’s labor and seeing different agencies come together to support the area children.
“We’re excited to be here today to celebrate Child Health Week,” Reece said. “The (Carter County) health department is passionate about helping stop childhood obesity and taking part in active activity like today’s Nerf war. We also appreciate the Carter County UT Extension office for providing a healthy snack for the children, the Elizabethton Parks and Recreation Department for allowing us to use this area, it’s such a great location. We also want to thank the Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library for providing the barriers and other activities for the kids to make things educational today, like the history of Nerf.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam proclaimed Oct. 3-6 as Child Health Week in the state while the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) is encouraging all Tennesseans to put the health and well-being of children first during the week, just like the initiative in Elizabethton.
“Each of us has a role to play to help keep Tennessee children safe, healthy and on track,” said TDH Commissioner John Dreyzehner, MD, MPH. “Children watch what we do, so each of us can encourage and influence healthy behavior choices by modeling good health in our own lives.  Do they see us being physically active, making healthier food choices, avoiding tobacco and nicotine, wearing seat belts and getting vaccinated? Let’s all work to set good examples to help Tennessee’s children become healthy, educated and prosperous adults.”
The 2016 theme for Child Health Week is “Health Food Fuels Healthy Children”, which Tuesday’s event was able to provide with the local UT Extension providing treats to attendees.
“(TDH) recognizes the importance of nutrition in every stage of life, especially in the very beginning,” said TDH Assistant Commissioner for Family Health and Wellness Morgan McDonald, MD, FAAP, FACP. “Breastfeeding support through the Tennessee Breastfeeding Hotline and designated breastfeeding experts in every county health department are available statewide. WIC nutritionists provide education early in life, and health educators across the state partner with daycares and Coordinated School Health to promote childhood access to good nutrition and physical activity.”
While battle took place inside the gym, different rooms were set up with various groups, including the local, informative breastfeeding group, which encourages mothers to erase the stigma created about breastfeeding in public and provides information to upcoming mothers on the perks of starting newborns on breastfeeding.
Local students also provided information to their peers with the county Fact Summit teens set up during the day to provide information tobacco prevention. While staying busy early into the school year, Carter County has one state ambassador through the FACT program – Pate Anglin.
“We’re excited for them to be here with us,” Reece added about the FACT Summit group. “That’s another component of Child Health Week, preventing tobacco use in teens. We love how passionate they are about working with teens in Carter County to help them to not start smoking. They always have great ideas and we’re very excited about what they’re doing.”
While geared for Child Health Week, the Nerf war may prove to be more of a common occurrence in the coming.
“Several families today have actually asked us to continue to do this,” Reece said with a smile. “This will definitely be something we’ll look at continuing to do in the future.”