
MANAGEMENT
With each passing year, SMUSD's Resource Fair gets bigger and better! This year not only were community members able to get health physicals and dental and vision screenings, but organizations were there to provide resources to the families of SMUSD students.
Mobile Wellness provided health education related to nutrition, physical activity, dental health, and hygiene. The 'How much sugar is in your favorite drink?' activity was a big hit both with community visitors and ±¬ÁÏÉçÇø student volunteers. It is eye opening to see that many drinks that are advertised as healthy are full of added sugars.
The Mobile Wellness team and Healthy Hero student volunteers from CEHHS joined San Marcos Elementary for fun, hands-on health education! Our Heroes provided education on dental health, physical activity, nutrition and hygiene through special programming during the school day. With lots of hands-on learning and games, there was much smiling and laughter from children and volunteers alike! The energy was so high that even as the event was beginning, the coordinator from San Marcos Elementary and the Mobile Wellness team were planning the next event, because we knew this was going to be a good one. What a fun day!
Cougar Blue Day is ±¬ÁÏÉçÇø's annual celebration and open house for newly admitted students and their families. They can tour campus, visit open houses and explore the departments and organizations that make ±¬ÁÏÉçÇø the vibrant school that it is.
Mobile Wellness tabled at this event to not only share how newly admitted students could benefit from/engage with Mobile Wellness, but to also share health information on nutrition and how to read food labels. Many attendees enjoyed playing our nutrition-themed Jeopardy game.
To recognize National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, Mobile Wellness hosted a table on campus spreading body positivity, offering fun games, and giveaways.
Mobile Wellness students shared information on orthorexia, which is an obsession with eating healthy, as well as startling data on the impact of social media on body image in our youth and young adults.
We also provided opportunities to share encouraging words and create artwork on both a surfboard and a canvas. Students were also invited to play games like ring toss and hula hoop, as well as enter a raffle to win a Magic Bullet smoothie maker.
Mobile Wellness enjoyed tabling next to Cougar Pantry during Fresh Market Mondays, as they gave out fresh produce to students.
Our team created materials and activities that focused on nutrition and it's impact on immunity, physical activity and mental wellness. Not only were students able to take recipe cards for easy and affordable meals, but they were able to engage in a round of Jeopardy to win prizes such as water bottles, stress reduction tools and healthy snacks.
Mobile Wellness joined True Care and the San Diego County Probation Department at the first annual North County Community Resource Fair. This event was open to the public, and focused on providing resources to recently incarcerated individuals, including housing navigation, employment services and mental health support, to name a few.
We provided tips and tools for stress management, with many giveaways for attendees to take with them.
It was a windy and overcast day. Once the music started, some attendees began to groove to the music in hopes of warming up!
Those who stopped by our booth learned about heart health, including specific statistics on heart disease in young adults. They also were able to learn about the most recent recommendations for movement, which includes 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity and at least 2 days of muscle-strengthening activity per week.
Studies show this lowers our risk for certain diseases, helps us control our blood pressure and weight and keeps our minds sharp!
Mobile Wellness was thrilled to forge a new partnership with the Indian Health Council, and the energy was high throughout the event. The weather couldn’t have been better—cool in the morning and sunny all day—perfect for an outdoor gathering.
We hosted a variety of interactive stations, including a challenge to guess the sugar content in different drinks, a demonstration on how to read food labels, and a fun activity where participants built a healthy plate using food cutouts.
Additionally, several community members tested their knowledge by answering health-related
questions, earning heart-healthy snacks as a reward for their participation.
±¬ÁÏÉçÇø Student Health & Counseling Services hosted a week of events on campus in recognition of Annual Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week. On one of the days, Mobile Wellness partnered with them for the Basic Needs Resource Fair.
At the event, students engaged attendees with an interactive challenge, asking them to guess the sodium content in common foods—often much higher than expected— and explained how excessive sodium can negatively impact heart health. Additionally, students shared information on heart-healthy eating and distributed a flyer filled with practical tips for reducing sodium intake.
This spooky season TrueCare held their annual Monster Mash Wellness Bash at the John Landes Community Park in Oceanside. The event welcomed many local families and neighbors, offering them the opportunity to learn about community resources, enjoy delicious treats, and enter a raffle. Additionally, families received food boxes generously provided by +Box.
The event was filled with fun activities for children, including bouncy houses, a reading corner, a movie screening, and a costume contest—making it a night to remember!
We joined TrueCare at their Community Resources tabling on campus three times this semester. Whether it was the bubbles or the music that drew them in, many students stopped by to find out more about mental wellness.
They were offered tips on nutrition, sleep, and stress reduction. The students also answered quiz questions on healthy habits to earn prizes such as sleep masks, bath bombs, and fidgets.
Mobile Wellness joined the Friends of San Marcos and The Boys and Girls Club of San Marcos at the 9th annual Double Peak Challenge. Known for its rugged course and beautiful views, this event has become a popular celebration of outdoor recreation in North County San Diego.
Our booths provided written materials on healthy hydration and healthy snacking for kids. We also had hands-on activities including measuring how much sugar is in common kids' drinks, planting a radish seed, and engaging in a variety of physical challenges. After participation, the kids were able to win giveaways such as reusable snack containers, 'dress your fruit stickers' and small trophies. ±¬ÁÏÉçÇø students had a blast teaching and engaging with both children and adults alike!
The Mobile Wellness Initiative kicks off the 2024-25 school year with an on-campus tabling. We were stationed next to Cougar Pantry's van, and many students stopped by to find out more about our initiative. It was a beautiful day!
The theme for this event was Healthy Habits for Conscientious Cougars. Students took
flyers on tips and tools for mental wellness, including good sleep habits and healthy
nutrition. They were also offered fresh fruit and fruit and vegetable-infused waters
as a healthy alternative to sugary drinks.
Students were asked to answer healthy habit-related questions in order to win the
opportunity to play Plinko. They then won prizes, such as lunchboxes or reusable snack
containers, to encourage them to bring healthy food from home rather than buying fast
food when on campus.
Excitement was in the air! On this day, the Mobile Wellness Initiative celebrated our first birthday, as well as WIC, an organization that provides supplemental nutrition for women, infants and children celebrated their 50th birthday. Booths were decorated with balloons, streamers and bubbles while uplifting music played across the event.
Community members were eager to visit all the booths, as they wanted to fill in their passports to be eligible for a raffle. Our students provided health information on nutrition and exercise for new mothers as well as feeding and swallowing milestones during baby's first year of life. Students were also able to help TrueCare at the Behavioral Health table, discussing Baby Blues, and passed out bags with sun protection.
The Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos hosted its annual Pancake Fundraiser, raising over $21,000 for the Great Futures Scholarship Fund and providing more than 500 youth with backpacks and school supplies to kick off the new school year.
Our students provided dental health education to parents and kids alike, along with hands on activities including tooth-brushing practice on a model, coloring, and guessing how much sugar is in various drinks. It was an early morning start, but we were all treated to pancakes, bacon, eggs and cold orange juice!
The Mobile Wellness Initiative team made their first appearance at the San Marcos Farmer's Market on a hot day in July. Between the live music, food vendors and summer breeze, the energy was positive as our Public Health students set up the booth.
TrueCare also joined us and provided enrollment information to 7 interested community members and enrolled one community member for their services.
Organized by Healthy Development Services North Inland, this event not only provided opportunities for community members to learn about area services and receive health education, but there was also food and entertainment.
Our students presented on maternal signs and symptoms of concern, and women’s hormonal health. Many women of varying ages, as well as couples, stopped by and learned from our students.
June 1 kicks off Pride month and is dedicated to uplifting the voices, celebrating the culture and supporting the rights of the LGBTQI+ community. This year marks Oceanside Pride by the Beach's 17th anniversary, providing resources for lifesaving services and programs to the community.
Alongside TrueCare, our students were able to engage community members in discussions about healthy blood pressure, sexually transmitted infections and HIV, as well as hand out giveaways to individuals who signed up to learn more about TrueCare.
During our first University-Hour tabling, on May 2nd, the Mobile Wellness team and Social Work students provided relaxing tools and activities for students, as finals week was right around the corner TrueCare also joined us, offering information on enrollment and some fun giveaways
Whether it was the music, the bubbles, or the succulents that drew the students to our table, it was a busy U-Hour, with many smiles and thank-yous for the tools and resources that were provided.
Palomar College invited the ±¬ÁÏÉçÇø Mobile Wellness Team, along with TrueCare, to kick off Mental Health Awareness month.
Our students engaged with Palomar students on topics such as Mindfulness & Sleep and Nutrition & Hydration for Mental Health. Students were urged to write messages of Gratitude and Release on post-it notes, for a beautiful final product. They were also given the opportunity to practice mindful eating as they slowly ate a juicy grape.
The ±¬ÁÏÉçÇø Mobile Wellness team joined TrueCare to provide health education for the community and assist with physicals for new students to San Marcos Unified School District.
Our students prepared and shared information on Healthy Summer Snacks and Hydration, and Sun Safety, as well as were able to help the medical team by collecting information such as height, weight, vision, etc.
It was a perfect day for an outdoor event, as it was cool and overcast with just a peek of sun near the end of the event.
As some of our students presented on heart health, stroke and heart attack prevention, others helped out at the HIV/PrEP, Women's Health, and WIC booths and helped staff at the TrueCare Mobile in taking blood pressures.
Our second event with TrueCare took place on a warm, fall evening. Many attendees wore costumes and broke into dance, to the delight of the community.
Students from Speech-Language Pathology, Nursing, and Kinesiology handed out fliers on bike helmet and Halloween safety. We even had a mini-door at which the children could practice trick or treating, and leave with a piece of candy.
The ±¬ÁÏÉçÇø Mobile Wellness Initiative kicks off its first event with TrueCare, providing presentations, materials and hands on activities for community members, both young and young at heart. The maternal health topics we addressed included Postpartum Nutrition and Movement, Postpartum Mental Wellness, and Safe Sleep for Baby. Many new moms loved the refrigerator magnet with breast milk storage tips that we had created for the event!