HSC Welcomes the Surgeon General to our Change for Good Luncheon
September 14, 2015 | Written By: Healthy Schools Campaign
Healthy Schools Campaign is excited to announce that U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy will be the keynote speaker for our annual Change for Good Luncheonon Tuesday, September 22 at 12:30 p.m. at Northern Trust in Chicago.
We first met Dr. Murthy when HSC President + CEO Rochelle Davis presented on the different ways that the health and education sector could work together to better create the conditions for health in our nation’s schools. The National Prevention Council’s Prevention Advisory Group that created those recommendations was convened by then Surgeon General Regina Benjamin after she read our 2012Health in Mind: Improving Education Through Wellness report. That meeting, in which Dr. Murthy participated, resulted in the creation of the National Collaborative on Education and Health, a group of education and health leaders who have continued the conversation about how the two sectors are intertwined.
Dr. Murthy was appointed Surgeon General in December 2014. In this role, he is responsible for communicating the best available scientific information to the public regarding ways to improve personal and public health. One of Dr. Murthy’s primary focuses is to make prevention and health equity the backbones of a strong and healthy country. Early in his tenure he set out to accomplish this through the promotion of active living, healthy eating, drug and tobacco-free living emotional well-being and ending violence. Just this week, the Surgeon General announced hisStep It Up! campaign to promote the health benefits of walking while addressing the fact that many communities lack safe and convenient places for residents to walk and exercise.
These issues are closely tied to the work we’re doing in schools here in Chicago and across the country to reduce health disparities that many children face, especially in low-income communities of color, by increasing access to healthy school food, physical activity and health care services. We’re privileged to support Dr. Murthy’s office on a number of initiatives to help our schools and communities address health disparities and to further introduce him to our work during his visit to Chicago.
Our annual Change for Good Luncheon is an important opportunity to share a vision for the health and success of all Chicago students; gain an important national perspective; celebrate outstanding local parents, teachers and principals; and hear about successes and challenges in transforming school food, student fitness, schoolyards and classrooms in Chicago.
We’re excited for Surgeon General Murthy to be a part of it, and we hope you can join us, too. Click here for more information.
