The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has been designated as a Gold Level Campus for Exercise is Medicine (EIM), in recognition of dedication to health and well-being of the campus community.
Exercise is Medicine is a global initiative of the American College of Sports Medicine which aims to encourage health care providers to include physical activity when designing treatment plans for patients. One branch of EIM is Exercise is Medicine-On Campus (EIM-OC), which calls upon colleges and universities to promote the inclusion of physical activity as a vital sign and link campus health services with qualified fitness professionals to help students, faculty, and staff meet physical activity goals.
Every year, EIM-OC recognizes campuses around the world for their engagement in this mission, with gold level status reserved only for those campuses which have successfully included assessment of physical activity at every student health visit and linked this assessment to referrals to fitness specialists to help patients increase their physical activity. On our campus every student who visits Student Health Services is asked about their current level of physical activity and if it is found to be below recommended levels, students are provided with a referral to the Athletic and Recreation Center (ARC) to meet with a fitness specialist to learn about increasing their physical activity levels. The UTC EIM-OC program also coordinates Wellness Wednesdays the secondWednesday of every month with activities on campus related to various aspects of wellness including exercise and nutrition.
As part of the EIM program, Chancellor Angle declared this past October to be Exercise Is Medicine On Campus Month and on March 16, 2017, the American College of Sports Medicine recognized UTC as one of only 23 gold level campuses in the world.
The EIM-OC program is a partnership between Student Health, Campus Recreation, Student Development and the Department of Health and Human Performance. It is a division of the UTC Healthy Living Initiative which also includes programs aimed to educate the UTC community about nutrition, tobacco cessation, mindfulness, and other wellness topics. Learn more at www.utc.edu/healthy-living-initiative. The UTC EIM program will be formally recognized in May at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Denver, CO.
