Anyone who has stepped foot inside the Recreational Sports Center knows health is a priority for many Miami University students. Yet, the key to achieving overall health encompasses more than just exercising and eating right.
It involves reaching a balance within each of the six categories of health: physical, intellectual, social, emotional, environmental and spiritual. Raising awareness about the importance of these areas of health is the goal of a new national demonstration project coming to Miami in January: the mobile health unit.
Funded by the Ford Foundation, the mobile health unit is an RV designed to "roll" onto college campuses raising awareness about topics like sexual health, substance abuse, eating disorders, high blood pressure, diabetes and other topics especially relevant to young adults.
Passersby will be able walk in and talk with trained students about various health topics and get basic knowledge of medical practices.
Miami University was chosen as the first campus to experience this comprehensive, groundbreaking new approach to promoting health awareness, and will help lay the foundation for projects like this throughout the nation.
First formulated in 2008, the two-year project was designed, planned and organized by 18 undergraduate students under the direction of Reginald Fennell, kinesiology and health professor and editor of the Journal of American College Health, and program coordinator Christopher Escue, a Miami exercise and health studies graduate student.
These students are currently enrolled in KNH 402, a capstone class entirely devoted to planning and organizing this program and promoting the importance of health awareness.
Senior Megan Becker, a dietetics major and member of the mobile health unit team, was excited about the opportunity to share her knowledge of health to other students and be part of the implementation of this project on other college campuses.
"We have been working hard on this project, and it is very exciting to see it finally carried out," Becker said. "We are creating a new blueprint for the nation on health awareness."
Termed by one student member as a sort of "COSI for adults," the mobile health unit will use fun, engaging activities as well as informative methods to educate students on the importance of health.
"This is meant to foster intellectual student discussions about health beyond the classroom," Fennell said. "We are hoping to reach students in a fresh way with the message of the importance of overall wellness."
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The mobile health unit will launch in January and will be available on the Oxford, Hamilton and Middletown campuses on weekday afternoons during sporting events, festivals and health awareness observances, and also between the hours of 11 p.m. and 3:30 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in uptown Oxford.
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