Healthy Buildings
Schools
Schools play a critical role in promoting the health and safety of young people. Children can spend up to half of their day in schools. Healthy students have improved cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development. Healthy schools can establish lifelong healthy behavior patterns. A healthy school is committed to supporting healthy eating, improving physical activity, and providing a safe and nurturing learning environment. The Tennessee Department of Health promotes healthy learning places to support the academic success of students.
Healthy Housing
Good health begins at home. Healthy housing is designed, built and maintained in support of good health. The way housing is planned, developed, managed and maintained can benefit the health of families as well as communities. Healthy Homes is a comprehensive approach to preventing diseases and injuries that result from housing-related hazards and deficiencies. Learn the seven Healthy Homes principles about keeping a home dry, clean, pest-free, safe, contaminant-free, ventilated and maintained. Healthy housing prevents illness and injury, builds neighborhoods and maintains property values.
Healthy Workplaces
Workplaces impact health and well-being. It benefits both employers and employees if workplaces are safe and support health. A healthy workplace is more than just safe it considers health practices, the physical work environment and the psychosocial environment. Natural light, ergonomics, green space, noise, food choices, exercise, commuting, fairness and flexibility are all important to employees. Employers providing healthier options at the workplace have witnessed many benefits such as reduced insurance costs and absenteeism. Employers that care about creating a healthy workplace have witnessed increased employee job satisfaction, morale and productivity. There is increasing evidence that the same workplace factors that improve health improve.
Healthy Faith-based Places
The places we live, work, play and worship can affect our health and well-being. Faith-based places can set healthy lifestyle examples to benefit their members. Faith-based organizations and communities can be places that support health and well-being. A healthy faith-based place may be as simple as a faith ministry that sponsors regular educational events and experiences that promote well-being. Faith-based places can support health and well-being. They can design their places of worship to ensure their services are available to people who are aging with disabilities. Faith-based places can be located so members can walk or bike safely to the congregation. Creating trails or places to walk or reflect or providing a place for children of the congregation and community to play are other ways, faith-based communities can use their spaces to promote health and well-being.