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A multidisciplinary school health advisory committee was developed to enhance acceptance and support for a total elementary school cardiovascular health promotion program (Heart Smart). Composed of teachers, school lunch personnel, physical educators and parents, this coalition served as a liaison between the school and project investigators, providing feedback on program acceptability. As an environmental support mechanism to the Heart Smart intervention, the group was additionally charged with designing and implementing adjunct health promotion activities within the school. The interactive nature of this committee, coupled with self-directed goal setting, provides a school model for institutionalizing health promotion, providing school personnel and parents with program ownership, and reinforcing school commitment to heart health. The theoretical and organizational framework used in implementing a health advisory committee is described.

Models of health promotion directed to cardiovascular disease prevention are becoming increasingly important, based on the wealth of behavioral and physiologic data that examine the determinants, distributions, and interrelationships and trends over time of cardiovascular risk factors in children. The epidemiologic studies of children of cardiovascular risk factors and of life-styles provide the foundation to address intervention strategies beginning at the school age. Cardiovascular health promotion programs in elementary schools have tremendous potential for the prevention of adult cardiovascular diseases in our nation.