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Largo program targets childhood obesity
By ALEXANDRA CALDWELL
| Article published on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009 |
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LARGO – Numerous agencies have teamed up with the city of Largo as part of the Heart of Largo Eat Smart, Play Hard program to help exercise and healthy eating influence all parts of children’s days.
“The main goal is to influence a child’s whole day, from the moment they wake up in the morning until they go to bed to focus on physical activity and healthy nutrition,” said Megan Carmichael, program manager of the Heart of Largo Project with the Pinellas County Health Department.
The following groups make up the partnership: The city of Largo; the Pinellas County Health Department; Largo Recreation, Parks and Art; the PTA; Pinellas County Schools; the R’ Club; and the YMCA of the Suncoast.
Carmichael said the agencies are worried about the high childhood obesity rates, so hopefully the program will help keep children and parents aware of this problem and show them how they can make healthy choices in all parts of their lives.
About 62.1 percent of people in Florida and 63.2 percent of people in Pinellas County are overweight or obese, according to the 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System annual survey by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health. Also, 28.8 percent of Largo children in grades one through three were either overweight or at risk of being overweight in the 2005-2006 school year, according to cumulative data from Largo area elementary schools. Only one year later, that percentage had risen to 32 percent.
Largo Mayor Patricia Gerard was key in getting the two-year grant for the program, and she said the program is extremely important.
“I think it is a huge problem – childhood obesity is an epidemic,” Gerard said. “I look around now and compare to 20 years ago what kids are looking like and the activity level and the kids of diets they’re having, I think it’s terrible. There are long-term consequences. I think the whole idea of the program is to educate parents. They look around and their child looks just like everyone else’s child, but they don’t look like kids 20 years ago, and I don’t think we even know what the impact of that is yet, but I think we know it’s going to be bad, and the sooner we start working on that, the better.”
The program works by providing a consistent message about healthy living. It connects with all the groups that have contact with kids during the day and also works to bring education home to parents, said Chip Potts, athletic and outreach program manager for the city of Largo. For instance, some of the afterschool programs will give kids healthy, quick recipes to bring home to their parents, he said.
“This is an important program because obviously the childhood obesity problem around the country is really an epidemic,” Potts said. “And with the video games and sedentary activities by children and also the quick and easy meals parents have access to these days, kids just aren’t burning the calories like they used to. They’re just too sedentary. So what’s neat and important about this program is it brings together agencies that spend the majority of time with children throughout the day together to achieve one goal.”
To kick off the program, more than 260 Largo elementary children entered artwork with a healthy theme in a Heart of Largo calendar contest. The top 13 entries were made into a calendar, and the first place winner, Nadya Santos, a third-grader at Oakhurst Elementary, also has her artwork on a billboard in Largo. Her picture shows a big basket of fruit and a cheerleader saying “Give a cheer for a healthy year.” All first- through third-graders in all nine Largo elementary schools received a calendar.
The program also will have booths at community events such as Florida Clown Day and Touch a Truck.
The next step, Carmichael and Gerard said, is to help Largo become a more walkable community. One of Largo’s goals is to have trail connections around the city so cars are not as necessary, Gerard said.
“We’re trying to at least make it possible for people – either on foot or on bicycles – to get out without having to go on those main roads. So we’ll have urban trails,” Gerard said.
Learn more at www.playlargo.com.
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Article published on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009
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