Our Impact FY 2023 | Let's Go

New to the 2022-2023 program year, Schools, School Nutrition, Early Care and Education and Out-of-School programs were encouraged to complete the Let's Go! Self-Assessment and reflect on the practices and policies that make their school/program environment one that supports healthy behaviors. By completing the self-assessment sites can identify strengths and areas for growth, and set goals that support creating and sustaining a healthy environment. Sites who complete the Self-Assessment are celebrated as a Partner in Excellence.

Schools (n=84)

Early Childhood Education (n=157)

Out-of-School Sites (n=32)

School Nutrition Programs (n=37)

Let’s Go! uses data from our Health Care Annual Survey to monitor implementation of evidence-based strategies and recognize practices for their commitment to helping patients establish and maintain healthy lifestyle habits.

Percentage of Health Care sites implementing each strategy
 

• 5-2-1-0 Practice (n=87)      • Small Steps Practice (n=25)

 

Let's Go! poster or public service announcement is displayed in the waiting area

 

Let's Go! poster is displayed in all exam rooms

 

All providers routinely have BMI determined for patients aged two years and older

 

All providers routinely counsel on Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) using the Healthy Habits Questionnaire

 

All providers routinely monitor weight-for-length measurements in patients younger than two years of age to check for crossing of percentiles

 

All providers routinely assess patients age two years and older with a BMI ≥85 percentile for health risk factors

 

In-Person/Virtual Learning
 

Let’s Go! provides quality professional development opportunities to medical learners and staff at enrolled Let’s Go! sites through in-person and virtual trainings to increase knowledge and implementation of healthy eating and physical activity best practices. Let’s Go! offers many unique opportunities to meet the needs of each target audience, including a School Symposium, National Healthcare Conference and virtual Cooking Matters for the Child Care Professional training.

On-Demand Learning
 

Let’s Go! Learning was launched for staff at registered Let’s Go! sites in September 2022 as an on-demand learning platform. Each on-demand course provides training content relevant to a specific setting and/or strategy.

Understanding how families are implementing the Let’s Go! evidence-based strategies allows us to determine effectiveness and efficiency of our goals.  Learning the habits of families provides insights on how we present resources and what information is needed to support families to engage in healthy eating and active living.

Family Behavior

Most respondents are implementing all Let’s Go! 5-2-1-0 strategies at least 4 days a week at home. Physical activity was the most frequently applied at home, almost all respondents said 4+ days each week (84%).

School Nutrition

School Nutrition Programs play an essential role in serving healthy meals to support students’ health and increase their readiness to learn.  Let’s Go! partners with school nutrition programs to improve the nutritional quality of food served, make the healthy choice the easy choice and improve the perception of school meals.

More than half of respondents agree or strongly agree that their child’s school cafeteria meals are healthy (55%)

Learn how families are implementing 5-2-1-0 strategies at home, in their own words.

5 or more fruits and vegetables

“I serve my kids a bowl of fresh veggies before supper. This is always the time when they are starving, so this is a healthy snack that won't "ruin" their supper, and even though my kids like veggies, if they are on the plate with pasta or protein, sometimes the veggies get eaten last, which sometimes means not at all. So we get the veggies out of the way first.” – Cumberland County

“We grow a lot of our own veggies and that helps to reach our daily goal of fruits and veggies.” – Lincoln County

2 hour or less of recreational screentime

“They use to love phone and TV, we decided to change from that to books and that have been helping because we as parents engage on it too.” -  Androscoggin County

“Limiting screen time has improved behavior and overall attitude at our home.” – Lincoln County

“Trying to cut down on screen time has helped my kids play more independently.”  - Androscoggin County

1 Hour or more of physical activity

“We love walks around our neighborhood!! Water is the drink of choice in our home!” – York County

“Our daughter loves extra curricular activities like dance which helps to achieve the activity level of an hour a day or more.” - Carroll County

0 Sugary Drinks, More Water

“We have essentially eliminated sugar-sweetened beverages from our home. The kids know the main drink in our house is water.” - Kennebec County

“When they ask for sugary drinks, I remind them that 5210 says they are not a healthy choice.”  - Cumberland County

• Let's Go! Our Impact, FY2022
• Let's Go! Our Impact, FY2021
• Let's Go! Annual Report, FY 2020
• Let’s Go! Annual Report, FY 2019
• Let’s Go! Annual Report, FY 2018