Aetna gives Columbus Regional $25K grant to help fight childhood obesity

Author: chris walker

Author: chris walker

Abigail Futch likes to eat healthy. For a snack, some celery or a carrot stick will do fine. The 9-year-old girl tries to persuade friends to do the same and put junk food aside. Do they listen?

Some do, she said, smiling.

That even a few of her peers have adopted her healthy lifestyle pleases the Clubview Elementary student Everyone should want to be healthy, she said.

Abigail and several classmates were on hand at The Village Kitchen on 13th Street in Columbus Wednesday morning helping to prepare healthy snacks for those gathered at a news conference announcing the beginning of a Columbus Regional Healthcare System program aimed at fighting childhood obesity.

The program is Columbus Regional Cooks for Health.

On Wednesday, Cindy Follmer of Aetna Insurance presented Lance Duke, CEO of The Medical Center, with a check for $25,000. The grant, from the Aetna Foundation, should cover about half the cost of the program this first year.

The program will provide children and their families the opportunity to learn healthy nutrition practices through a hands-on, experience-based learning process that includes the selection and preparation of healthy foods.

The curriculum for the six-week educational series is being developed by local pediatricians and dieticians. Students, ages 10-18, chosen to participate will meet once a week at The Village Kitchen.

The Director of Community Benefit for Columbus Regional, Debbie Buckner, will direct the program. She said the first group wont begin until March. Each class size will be no greater than 30 children. Students will learn about nutrition and how to prepare foods. Parents will be able to register their children at the hospital, but children will also be referred to the program by doctors and schools.

Children will learn how to modify behavior that can lead to obesity, Buckner said. We want to get children excited about nutrition.

Among those in attendance at the announcement was Columbus Mayor Jim Wetherington. He and others heard Dr. Joseph Zanga, Columbus Regional Chief of Pediatrics, talk about obesity and how it can lead to other problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Twenty-four percent of third-graders are obese, Zanga said.

He said parents needed to get kids away from junk food and get them outside. He mentioned that he sees a lot of skinny fingers referring to children spending too much time with video games.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the prevalence of childhood obesity has doubled in the past 20 years among children ages 6-11 and more than tripled in adolescents ages 12-19. It is a large and growing problem, Zanga said.About the Author:

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