Media Release

Contact: Dennis Mathis, Public Relations Coordinator, San Juan Regional Medical Center, 505-609-2238 or email dmathis@sjrmc.net

FARMINGTON NM (September 17, 2008) San Juan Regional Medical Center and the Human Performance Institute (HPI) in Orlando, Florida are partnering with area schools to bring an innovative program to administrators, teachers and students. The program, Full Engagement Training (FET), has been offered to San Juan Regional Medical Center employees for about four years. More than 850 hospital employees have taken the two day course.

The first schools to receive the training are in the Aztec, Farmington and Bloomfield school districts. The goal of Full Engagement Training is to help students to become more fully engaged, not just in their school studies and activities, but in all aspects of their lives through better nutrition, exercise, healthy relationships and other factors that affect energy and attention.

FET is offered during the 2008/2009 school year in three pilot schools: Bluffview Elementary School in Farmington, Park Avenue Elementary School in Aztec, and Blanco Elementary School in Bloomfield. The teachers and principals in each pilot school attended a special training session in May, 2008 to learn the principles of the program. Then each school developed its own initiatives, incorporating the FET principles into its classroom activities, its food service, and its out-of-classroom activities.

Janel Ryan, Superintendent of Farmington Municipal Schools is appreciative of the program. "Farmington Municipal Schools administration made a commitment to be leaders for healthy living, so we're grateful to San Juan Regional Medical Center for allowing us to participate in the FET program, and to have the opportunity to learn how to integrate healthy living practices in our daily lives and work. We're also grateful for the pilot staff and students at Bluffview Elementary where we're seeing the FET principles enhance our healthy lifestyles curriculum."

Linda Paul, Superintendent of Aztec Municipal Schools was impressed with the program when she attended the training in 2007 as part of the planning process for bringing FET to area schools. "Thanks to the generosity of San Juan Regional Medical Center, I attended the Full Engagement Training in Orlando, Florida at the Human Performance Institute in January 2007, and it was a life-changing experience for me. Today I am healthier than I have been in many years. One of the most impressive aspects of the Human Performance Institute was the way the staff 'walked the talk.' They organized the entire institute around the principles of FET – good nutrition, hydration, movement, exercise, stress and recovery. What if we could “walk the talk” and organize a school around the same principles? We have selected Park Avenue Elementary School as our pilot site for FET because we believe this can be a life changing experience for staff and students."

All three districts will be working this year to incorporate FET principles into their school day and will be measuring the outcomes. As a pilot program, staff and students will be trying new things, and they are hopeful that this will be the beginning of positive initiatives that will spill out into other schools.

Full Engagement Training was originally developed for the business world by the Human Performance Institute to teach employees how to energize their lives at work and at home.