WEST OCEAN CITY — Students at Ocean City Elementary School were expecting to meet Gov. Larry Hogan this week, but even though they didn’t meet the man, they most certainly heard the message.

Hogan, who was speaking at the funeral of police officers killed across the bridge, was forced to cancel his scheduled chat with first graders about health and wellness, particularly dental hygiene, but sent Candy Edwards-Roach, a policy analyst from the Governor’s Office for Children, in his place.

Edwards-Roach walked the kids through a fun and playful health literacy chat about the importance of dental hygiene. Yet, while the chat with the kids was a light hearted and fun discussion, the mission behind the conversation was a serious one.

“There are a ton of statistics out there that prove that if our children are not healthy, it impacts their learning,” said Edwards-Roach. “So, the earlier we can get to them and implement good oral hygiene and good physical health, it is going to allow us to combat all the things that impact learning.”

Governor’s Office for Children policy analyst Candy Edwards-Roach distributed lunch boxes with healthy messages and tooth brushes featured. Photos by Chris Parypa

Edwards-Roach said the topic of health and wellness is a “big priority” for Hogan because it directly impacts the future of the state and local communities. Worcester County ranks 14^th out of 24 counties in the state, according to the most recent National Health Report, which is conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. That same study claims 28% of county residents are considered overweight or obese, while about the percentage of local adolescents that fall into the same category is about half that number.

The Health Literacy Program was spearheaded by a state grant spurred from a piece of legislation passed in 2012 to promote health and wellness to young people through education.

Worcester County was one of the first in the state to supplement its existing dental hygiene education with the state’s new program.

Michael Franklin, CEO and President of Atlantic General Hospital, says AGH’s partnership in the venture is aimed primarily at prevention through education.

“We really want to use this program to eventually reduce the need for health care services in the area,” he said. “We get the children excited about health and wellness and then they take it home and share that message with their families and that will spread throughout the community much faster that way.”

Health lessons are also being integrated into existing core classes in the early grades in hopes of increasing the “unsettling” statistics of 12% health literacy nationwide, and closer to home, diabetes and hypertension rates that are both above the state average.

“We want to attack the problem at the beginning before it even starts,” said Edwards-Roach. “By the time these kids are adults, they will hopefully not only be informed about a healthy lifestyle, but practicing one too.”