LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Jamie Fairchild was nominated by Jeanie Alter of ASHA. Below is an edited nomination for ASHA's Healthy Hero Award that was submitted by Ms. Fairchild's colleague, Amy Biner, who is the school nurse at Edna and John Mosley PreK-8 school.

Edna and John Mosley PreK-8 School has 855 students in grades PreK-8 and 100 staff members. Eighty-five percent of the student population is POC, 71% are on free or reduced lunch, 38% are English language learners, and 18% are special education students.

What is so unique about Ms. Fairchild is her passion for teaching health and wellness concepts to students and her desire to inspire others to take responsibility for their health – not only the students, but the staff and community as well. She and her colleague, Bailey Kimbrough, have worked together to create a student heart-healthy fitness and step challenge for all students. They have also incorporated nutrition and healthy eating into this challenge.

Although Ms. Kimbrough is in her second year at Mosley and Ms. Fairchild is in her first year at the school, they have taken it upon themselves to form a school wellness committee – the first such committee in the school's history. The committee's goal is: "We want to promote the mental and physical wellness of the Mosley community with actionable steps to inspire and empower individuals to take responsibility for their own health." The wellness committee has been present at staff events by providing mindful drawing/coloring activities and incorporating staff members into their heart-healthy step challenge. They have created spreadsheets for staff to record steps and procured prizes to motivate them to participate in these activities. They have future goals and ambitions of developing ways to incorporate parents and the whole school community in health and wellness activities. There is no doubt they will be able to do this.

"The impact these two have had and will have in the future on our school community by sharing the message of wellness and the importance of taking care of oneself is immense," said Biner.