A Pima County Collaboration
November 2020 | Issue 1
Dear School Community Members,

Healthy Schools, Healthy Community is a new, monthly e-newsletter aimed at helping students, staff, parents/guardians, and our community make healthy choices. While it is inspired by the many changes we’ve experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, this newsletter will not focus exclusively on COVID-19 tips. Yes, you should continue to wear a face mask and practice physical distancing, but we also want to share fun facts, tips, and offer support for many other health topics – from the food you eat to physical activity to giving up tobacco products, you’ll find the resources you need in this newsletter.

The health and safety of our students and educators is our top priority. Learning cannot happen in an unhealthy environment. We must come together to get through this pandemic and protect the health and wellness of our community. 

The Health Department and County School Superintendent's Office are thrilled to bring this partnership to you. If you have topics you’d like to hear more about, CLICK HERE to let us know.

Enjoy and Stay Healthy,
Dr. Cullen and Superintendent Williams
VIDEO: Pima County School Safety
How You Can Reduce Your End of Year Stress

Entering the holiday season can usually increase stress, but the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, have tried our mental stamina. While you wrap up the year and take care of young people, your colleagues, our community members, and your own family, we hope that you will also remember to take care of YOU! 

As the holidays approach, we need to have a plan to manage our stress using healthy strategies. Here are some important tips, assurances, and suggestions to wrap up the year and protect your mental health.

  • First, it’s important to remember that stress is normal. We all experience it from time to time, but it can become overwhelming.

  • Feeling stress for long periods can be damaging to our physical health and you might notice:
  • weak immune system
  • poor sleep
  • weight gain or weight loss
  • digestive or reproductive problems

  • So here are some quick tips on managing stress and improving your wellbeing:
  • Achieve balance
  • Be flexible with yourself
  • Learn what you can and cannot control
  • Learn how to say No
  • Use lists to prioritize your tasks and check things off as you go
  • Create a ritual, such as morning workouts, meditation, affirmations, religion/prayer, coffee/tea time
  • Remember to do one fun thing each day
  • Shift your thinking
  • That means NO negative self-talk
  • Acceptance - accept the things you cannot change and don’t dwell
  • Turn a negative into a positive, or excuses into choices
  • For example, instead of saying : "I'm so tired, I can't workout today." Try: "I must have done a lot today, my body deserves some rest."

For more tips on managing stress, visit www.pima.gov/mentalhealth.
How You Can Help Youth Manage their Stress

Young people are also experiencing great amounts of stress due to all of the change that COVID-19 has created, and they too are fast approaching a very different holiday season. Consider these ways that youth can reduce their stress and what you, parents, and youth can do to help.

Young people may not be able to verbalize how they are feeling (and this will vary by age) but signs and symptoms can include irritability or “acting out” behavior, excessive worry or sadness, unhealthy eating or sleeping habits, avoiding things that they used to enjoy, isolating from friends/family, unexplained aches and pains, sudden change in school performance, and use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs.

Schools can play an important role in supporting youth by incorporating the following strategies:
  • Include social-emotional learning (ex: feelings temperature checks in the mornings)
  • Strengthen student relationships to help reduce isolation
  • Prioritize opportunities for students to socialize and bond (ex: assign group work)
  • Emphasize that you are available to talk 1:1 if they need to
  • Check in! If you notice something in a student, ask “How are you doing?”
  • Incorporate mindfulness/relaxation into the classroom (ex: start class with 2 minutes of slow-deep breathing)
  • Keep kids in the loop with changes such as shifts in schedule, type of learning, etc.
  • Prioritize hands-on activities (ex. come up with fun off-screen activities as part of an assignment and scheduling it into their routine.)
  • Provide frequent reassurance
  • Remind yourself that you are doing everything you can despite the situation

What Parents Can Do
  • Learn and model stress management skills
  • Listen and acknowledge frustration and disappointment, check in if they observe concerning behavior
  • Don’t respond to anger or irritability with a punitive approach
  • Don’t try to immediately fix problems. There are things about our current situation we can’t fix.
  • Give them a sense of control
  • Set up a routine
  • Find projects that they enjoy
  • Give them input on meals or chores
  • Let them have buy-in on daily tasks and schedules
  • Seek resources for themselves and their youth when they need it, see www.PimaHelpline.Org

What Youth Can Do
  • Exercise and eat regularly
  • Get enough sleep and have a good sleep routine
  • Avoid excess caffeine which can increase feelings of anxiety and agitation.
  • Avoid illegal drugs, alcohol, and tobacco
  • Learn relaxation exercises (abdominal breathing and muscle relaxation techniques)
  • Develop assertiveness training skills. For example, state feelings in polite, firm, and not overly aggressive or passive ways: ("I feel angry when you yell at me.” "Please stop yelling.”)
  • Rehearse and practice situations which cause stress. One example is taking a speech class if talking in front of a class makes you anxious
  • Learn practical coping skills. For example, break a large task into smaller, more attainable tasks
  • Decrease negative self-talk: challenge negative thoughts - with alternative, neutral, or positive thoughts. "My life will never get better” can be transformed into "I may feel hopeless now, but my life will probably get better if I work at it and get some help.”
  • Learn to feel good about doing a competent or "good enough” job rather than demanding perfection from yourself and others
  • Take a break from stressful situations. Activities like listening to music, talking to a friend, drawing, writing, or spending time with a pet can reduce stress
  • Build a network of friends who help you cope in a positive way
Celebrate the Holidays Safely - Mask up. Stay apart. Wash up. Stay home.

The 2020 holiday season will look different than usual. Traditions and traveling may be altered.

Please keep in mind, a large driver of current COVID-19 transmission is small household gatherings with family and friends. People might feel safe around people they trust and remove their mask or do not distance, but contract COVID-19 or spread the virus to their loved ones.

In Pima County, we can continue to work together to have a happy and healthy holiday season, and protect our loved ones! From Halloween to New Year's Eve, we have recommendations on what you and your family can do to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in the community while still celebrating!

Blackout Tobacco Day is November 19th

  • Did you know that 43.9% of 12th grade students reported lifetime substance use of e-cigarettes?
  • By age 14 adolescents who experience numerous highly stressful events have a greater risk of initiating tobacco use
  • $9 Billion is spent on advertising and promotional expenses in the U.S. alone by cigarette and smokeless tobacco companies.

The Pima County Health Department (PCHD) is on a mission to “Blackout Tobacco” for the Great American Smokeout on November 19, 2020. Across the nation, the Great American Smokeout invites tobacco users to quit nicotine products for 24 hours, for a week, or for good. Smoking remains the single largest preventable cause of death and illness, causing an estimated 480,000 deaths in the United States every year. No matter how long you have been using tobacco, quitting improves health both immediately and over the long term.

PCHD’s Blackout Tobacco echoes this call to quit in an effort to help residents of Pima County take steps towards living a healthier, tobacco free life. We invite you to participate by pledging to be tobacco-free, encouraging your friends, family, or staff to quit, or helping share the Blackout Tobacco message on social media.

Please contact the Pima County Health Department Tobacco Prevention Program at 520-724-7904 or visit our Blackout Tobacco webpage for free, downloadable materials and more information about the campaign. #blackouttobacco
Don’t forget to get your flu shot 

In light of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, flu vaccine uptake is very important among all populations for the 2020-2021 flu season. Flu vaccines are safe, effective, and if you do get the flu, you’ll be less sick. 

Protect yourself and others and get your flu shot! Click here to learn about FREE flu shot resources across Pima County.
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A Pima County Collaboration