Office of Primary Prevention Clinical Connections Activities and Resources
Physical Activity Resource Guide for Clinicians
Tennessee Department of Health, 2018
This guide contains best practice guidelines and resources for clinicians for promoting physical activity. It provides an overview of the importance of physical activity, describes best practice programs and educational opportunities, and identifies community resources and clinical approaches. Sample exercise plans and additional resources are included in the guide.
Exercise is Medicine Community Connection Course
This course is under development and is a collaboration between the Tennessee Department of Health and the University of Tennessee Chattanooga Health and Human Performance and Public Health programs. The course will be a web-based version of the American College of Sports Medicine Exercise as Medicine course. In addition, it will include a community component that focuses on promoting and developing access to community-based physical activity resources. It will initially be piloted with TDH clinicians, and then offered state-wide. Stay tuned!
Click here for a brief video overview of the medical benefits of physical activity.
Early Brain and Language Development | Talk With Me Baby
Talk With Me Baby (TWMB) is a population-based initiative designed to ensure that every child, starting from birth, receives the essential “language nutrition.” The initiative aims to build a strong foundation for social-emotional and cognitive development and language and literacy ability, placing babies on a pathway toward third grade reading proficiency, high school graduation, and lifelong success. Led by the Office of Primary Prevention, the Tennessee Department of Health partnered with the Georgia Department of Public Health to adapt their TWMB coach training for Tennessee county health department staff. To date, nearly 1,000 health department employees and 400 home visitors have been trained as TWMB coaches; 11 health department employees from the Mid-Cumberland Region and Central Office are trained as coach trainers; and 75,000 TWMB books have been distributed to county and metro health departments. A health department web-based video and coach training guide rolled out in 2019 to allow for more efficient training of staff across the state. The goals are for all health department staff to coach and model language nutrition at every infant/caregiver interaction, and to expand the initiative statewide to birthing hospitals, schools of nursing, early childcare providers, primary care practices, and other entities that serve young families.
Click here for an update on the Tennessee Department of Health's Talk With Me Baby efforts.
Check out this adorable video of a father demonstrating "serve and return" with his son.