The Achievement Citation has been presented annually since 1975 by the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA). The award honors bold and innovative initiatives from Catholic health care that furthers the Catholic health mission and delivers measurable results for the community.
The I Sing the Body Electric program of the foundation of Provena United Samaritans Medical Center of Danville, IL, is modeled on an initiative in Mattoon, IL, and named for the Walt Whitman poem. The program asks Vermilion County, Ill., youth to identify the top health risks they face and it issues a report on the results of that survey. Program staff enlist art teachers in area high schools to work with teens who develop art projects illuminating the risks. I Sing the Body Electric takes those art pieces on tour throughout the community.
The program gets young people talking about the issues they face or are likely to face — Including depression, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, bullying and smoking — and helps them understand the potential consequences of the choices they make.
I Sing the Body Electric "lets students know that others have the same issues as they. They see how others have gotten through their struggles," says program coordinator Dottie McLaughlin. "This program matters to our youth."
To learn what problems are most pressing, I Sing the Body Electric administers the Youth Risk Behavior Survey in every high school in Vermilion County every other year. Based on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance survey — and tailored for local use with the input of local teens, school leaders and others — the anonymous 120-question survey asks teens whether and how frequently they drink alcohol, smoke, take illegal drugs and text while driving and whether they have sex or self-mutilate through cutting. It also asks questions about their mental health, physical activity level, eating habits and home life.
The University of Illinois in Champaign's Center for Prevention Research and Development compiles the results; and McLaughlin issues a report to the community, including to hundreds of people affiliated with the government, schools and community organizations in Illinois. No other report provides such an in-depth snapshot of local youth behavior, and so the information is used widely by organizations throughout the state to develop programs and write grants, notes Michael Brown, Provena United Samaritans president and chief executive.
According to the most recent report, issued in March 2011, the top 10 concerns are: alcohol use, teen sexuality, illegal drug use, body image, violence, depression and suicide, nutrition and physical fitness, seat belt use, domestic and dating abuse and tobacco use.
The results can be eye-opening for community members, says McLaughlin.
"There is so much these kids are going through," says Laura Irle, an art teacher at Danville High School.
"There is a lot of pressure on kids today," and they're facing some very difficult issues, said Brown.
But, until they see the survey results, many adults in the community are unaware of the prevalence of risky behaviors among teens, he said. The program "provides enough info for people to say, 'This is real. This could be happening to my son or daughter or grandson or granddaughter.'"
"We don't know as teachers and adults all the things these kids go through. They don't tell us. They hide a lot of things" about the pressures and temptations they're facing, says John Rackow, a Danville High School art teacher. I Sing the Body Electric is "a good thing because it lets us know what the current issues are."
Conversations among teens or between teens and teachers or parents can be fostered at any stage of the I Sing the Body Electric program cycle: McLaughlin shares the biennial survey results with all middle and high schools in the county, and teachers use the information for activities, lesson plans and chats. McLaughlin shares an informational packet with the teachers that includes background information on top health topics, and she meets with them in person.
And during in-person visits to the schools McLaughlin asks students to review the health risk report and volunteer to create an art piece on a subject that is important to them. This also spurs dialogue. I Sing the Body Electric displays the art at schools, art fairs and other venues.
When parents talk with their children about their day, the children may discuss the projects and health issues; or, if a parent views the art projects in a community display, that may be the conversation starter they need to talk with their children.
The tours have been a great catalyst to get children speaking about the issues, says Cathy Wenthe, a health teacher at Danville High School. She uses the survey information to create class projects, and encourages her students to enter their own art in the touring show. Wenthe adds that the art projects may help point to a solution for some of the issues kids are facing.
If the projects, surveys or displays arouse especially strong emotions in children or evoke particularly poignant reactions, it is common for teachers and other adults to refer the children to the school's guidance counselor.
Students create paintings, sculptures, photographs, poetry, videos, interactive exhibits and posters. Each artist writes a statement about the meaning of their piece, and they include information on how people can get help if they're facing the same challenges.
Danville High School sophomore Cassandra Ziegler is creating a sculpture of a pregnant man to challenge people to think about how the teen pregnancy issue would be different if men bore babies.
Danville High School sophomore Alayne Martin made a poster for the art exhibit to encourage people in abusive situations to tell someone and get help.
Abbie Strebing, a student at Westville High School, says when her sculpture on depression was displayed at her school, a few people told her they had similar feelings of depression.
The youth risk survey data substantiates that students who have seen the traveling exhibit are more likely to have thought deeply about the risks and consequences associated with unhealthy behaviors.
McLaughlin says the art gives creators and young viewers an outlet for expressing their feelings. "It gives children a voice, and their voices are so important. And it's important that we listen to what they are telling us and then respond to their needs," she says.
The Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), founded in 1915, supports the Catholic health ministry's commitment to improve the health status of communities and create quality and compassionate health care that works for everyone. The Catholic health ministry is the nation's largest group of not-for-profit health systems and facilities that, along with their sponsoring organizations, employ more than 750,000 women and men who deliver services combining advanced technology with the Catholic caring tradition.