Health and wellness services are essential for the overall well-being of older adults in Los Angeles County. These programs, which focus on clinical, mental and non-clinical services, are designed to promote physical, mental and emotional health. One such program is Healthy Teens LA, a transformative approach to health care that emphasizes being well. Young people (grades 6 to 12) from local schools and youth groups will be recruited to create a Wellness Council.
MHS social workers, staff, and other health professionals will advise the adolescent leaders. Members of the Wellness Council will create and coordinate age-specific activity nights, open to all local youth. These activities will combine social programs with fun to provide active learning on health-related topics selected by young people. These topics may include nutrition, sexual health, mental stability, balance between academic and family life, and other relevant issues. The use of data sets has allowed SBSM to better understand the communities where schools are located and has helped develop a roadmap to better direct resources and investments in ways that promote greater health equity in Los Angeles.
Magic Johnson Park in South Los Angeles was recently renovated and a vehicle was inaugurated to support this effort. The project is also expected to generate new jobs in the construction and staffing of hospital facilities and campus, which will contribute significantly to the Los Angeles economy. In partnership with the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF), FitKits were provided to help promote a curriculum-based fitness program for Los Angeles Unified School District students at two events. Among the guests were legendary Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela and Albert Pujols, who also shared personal stories with the children as they played Wiffle ball with them. In addition to primary care, doctors and nurses at UCLA Health provided vaccines, wound care, and psychiatric evaluations in shelters and streets in Los Angeles. The UCLA Health Operating Room Ecological Committee received recognition for its innovative programs in its operating rooms, which focus on minimizing waste, the clinical recycling of plastics, the reformulation of operating room kits, the reprocessing of single-use devices, the use of reusable sterilization cases, and much more. This program provides free community education and counseling about Medicare and health insurance issues through informal promotion or legal representation.
In the transition program affiliated with the Hope Gardens Family Center for Women and Children in Sylmar, doctors and nurses at UCLA Health provided personal protective equipment to about 7,500 people during a groundbreaking ceremony for the recently renovated Magic Johnson Park in South Los Angeles. All participating youth will participate in mentoring programs in which older youth supervise younger students in the lower grades. In an effort to support the mental health of young people, SBSM partnered with the UCLA Conscious Awareness Research Center to create and pilot a 10-week mindfulness program for young people. A growing priority of the Sound Body Sound Mind program is to ensure that all schools in its network have all the resources and support needed to deliver impactful physical education. The Healthy Teens LA program will focus on the health of young people ages 12 to 17, but teens will receive health information that will affect them, their friends and family, as well as their community.
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