Taking aim at childhood obesity
$360,000 grant will aid WUPHD effortsBy KURT HAUGLIE, DMG Writer
HANCOCK - The problem of childhood obesity has been increasing for many years, but now a national philanthropic organization and the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department are getting together to do something about the problem in the Copper Country.
Ray Sharp, project coordinator for the health department, said it is one of only 50 community organizations in the country to receive a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Health Kids, Healthy Communities program. The local grant is $360,000 over four years.
Sharp said the foundation requested communities around the country send proposals for the grant money, and they received 540 applications, which were then trimmed down to 110 semi-finalists, including the WUPHD.
"We submitted a very thorough proposal in May," he said. "It was quite a competitive process."
Sharp said the 110 applications were narrowed to 60 in August, and in September foundation representatives contacted certain applicants for a long conference telephone call.
Last year, nine community organizations were chosen for the project, and this year 41 more, including the WUPHD, were chosen in December, Sharp said. The only other Michigan community organization chosen was the Crim Fitness Foundation in Flint.
The reason the WUPHD was chosen for the grant wasn't so much for its rate of childhood obesity, Sharp said, but rather for its plan of action and the level of involvement of its community partners, called the Healthy Families Consortium, which includes local schools, BHK Child Development Board, Michigan Technological University, local hospitals and others.
Sharp said the RWJF has been involved in the effort to reduce childhood obesity since 2000, and with the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities program they're continuing that effort this time with local involvement. The organization is committing $500 million to reverse the trend of increasing childhood obesity by 2015.
"It's a national movement," Sharp said.
Sharp said the health department over the years has done studies with its various community partners, such as local schools and the BHK Child Development Board, to determine the rate of childhood obesity locally.
"We're seeing as young as the 3- to 5-year olds, 22 percent are overweight," he said.
That rate is probably about the same as the national rate, Sharp said, but locally, the rate of obesity among high school students is even higher.
Sharp said although genetics may play a part in some cases of obesity, most of it is due to eating and lifestyle habits.
"We see children who are heavier than their parents were at their ages," he said. "We eat differently, and we work and play differently than we did several generations ago."
Although the health department is responsible for providing information about healthy lifestyles, Sharp said officials there want to be more actively involved.
"We want to make our community a healthier place to live," he said.
Sharp said Michigan is in the top 10 in the country for adult obesity, also, and although the RWJF newest effort is aimed specifically at children, adults will be benefit from some of the efforts under consideration.
For instance, Sharp said with funding from a Michigan Department of Community Health grant, the health department is working with the city of Houghton to develop a system for bicycle use in the city, including placing signs for routes, placing bicycle racks around the city and striping streets to indicate routes.
Sharp said the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities grant will also allow the health department to increase its efforts at promoting healthy eating. The grant will allow the health department to work with the Pewabic Street Community Garden in Houghton to increase its usage by community members. There will also be an effort to work with the Michigan State University Extension to increase marketing of community garden and small farm produce.
Kurt Hauglie can be reached at khauglie@mininggazette.com.
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DoubleL
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01-14-10 8:47 AM
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"Social Engineering"?? How is an attempt to improve resources in the community social engineering? No one is being forced to do anything, this project appears to be aimed at helping people make healthy choices, someone please explain to me how that could be construed as a bad idea. We need some positive choices to combat all of the marketing (video games, junk food, etc) that our children are bombarded with on a daily basis. Current research suggests that childhood obesity may shorten the lifespan of the next generation, in terms of public health that is a big step backwards. Parents and children need all the help they can get to make positive choices.
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Photodiva69
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01-13-10 7:29 PM
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I completely agree with you adventure - we were never allowed to sit inside on a nice day, not that I ever wanted to. We were always out exploring, playing kick ball, kick the can, whatever... When I first acquired step-children years ago, and they came to visit in the summer I tried "you need to stay outside" and they sat on the porch crying (they were about 9 or 10 at the time) until I let them back in. They had no idea how to play...very sad.
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Snowman
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01-13-10 7:07 PM
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Why not put the millon dollars into feeding people that need it. Another social engineering project. Stupid.
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adventure
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01-13-10 6:26 PM
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I wonder how many parents still tell their kids "you need to stay outside, it's too nice to be in the house"? Granted, it's a little harder to do that in the winter, especially for young kids, but seize upon the opportunity in the winter to let them color, draw, and do whatever creative things they can come up with. If its to cold to be outside exercising the body, they should be doing something inside that exercises the mind.
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lostmyshovel
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01-13-10 5:04 PM
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Parents need to stop taking the easy road to parenting and turn off the TV and video games. TV is just about the only way you can create an overweight 5-year-old, because their natural tendency is to go about 6000 rpm nonstop unless you stop them by flicking on the TV. Then they will sit mesmerized for hours, eating anything you put in front of them, which I guess is the appeal for adults who want some peace and quiet. Put limits on the tube. If you want them quiet, get them onto reading. It's for their own good.
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williaminpelkie
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01-13-10 2:36 PM
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Take a look a the school lunch menus. Much fruit ends up in the dumpster-uneaten. Pizza and various other high fat/sodium items are served with the rationale being "the kids won't eat anything else". I agree with Freddie to the extent that kids should be outside being active and TV/movie/video games limited.
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Freddie
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01-13-10 1:29 PM
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Get their fat butts off of the couch and go outside and play like kids should,eat less junk food and quite sitting on the couch playing stupid video games. Build snow forts,go sledding,snowshoeing,skiing,etc. These kids need to have some motivation besides eating and sitting around too much.. Fat parents breed fat kids who are just as lazy as their parents. Quit trying to find an answer to being overweight and eat less and exercise.
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