Hospitals in Action >> Hospitals Care Video

MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE – Owosso , Michigan
Memorial FIT Kids Program

What is it?
A program of testing followed by interventions that work to change children’s and their families’ approach to nutrition, exercise, and healthy lifestyles. The various community partners have created initiatives that promote health through nutrition education and physical activity.

Who is it for?
Every sixth-grader in the region’s 10 school districts and five parochial schools is invited to participate in the health screening, which began in 2005. This first batch of students was re-assessed as eighth-graders in 2007.

Why do they do it?
The program was a response to the results of the Shiawassee United Way Community Survey, which identified childhood obesity as its number three community concern. The short-term goal of the program is the testing of all sixth-graders in the region for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Research shows that children with three or more CVD risk factors show blood vessel changes suggestive of atherosclerosis beginning at an early age. The program’s long-term goal is to improve knowledge, attitudes, and behavior about health and fitness in these children and the community, and to show a continuing decrease in CVD risk factors in the community’s young people.

Impact: The outcome of the testing has emphasized that the community’s young people have some serious health risks, as 37% of the 3,265 sixth-graders tested so far have three or more CVD risk factors. After learning about their test results, many sixth-graders pledge to change some behaviors (31% say they will add 10 minutes more activity per day; 23% pledge to drink more water; 20% will eat an additional serving of fruits and vegetables). The eighth-grade re-assessment shows mixed results – physical activity has increased (only 30% are not getting the recommended 60 minutes a day for five or more days a week, compared to 51% in sixth grade), but more students are at risk for obesity with elevated BMI levels (51% in eighth grade vs. 41% in sixth grade). The results have led program evaluators to believe that more aerobic exercise is needed.

Contact: Catherine Stevenson
Community Resource Liaison
Phone: 989-729-4724
Email:  cstevenson@memorialhealthcare.org