Be a Strong4Life superhero
Looking for some a way to jumpstart your kids’ fitness program this summer? Children’s Healthcare has a couple of special programs in the works. One is an awareness and fundraising event at Piedmont Park, while the other is a sleepaway camp program that involves a traditional camp experience at Camp Twin Lakes in Winder, a facility that specializes in camp programs for special needs populations.
The Strong4Life Superhero Sprint will be a 5K and 1K fun run to raise funds for Strong4Life to reach even more families through school and provider training programs, community partnerships and policy change efforts. Participants are encouraged to dress as their favorite superhero.
The races start at 8 a.m. Superhero costume contest, 9:45 a.m. Phantom runner fee is $30, Timed 5K, $25; untimed 1 mile, $20; 1-mile fun run (12 and under), $12. Piedmont Park. Register online at choa.org/strong or at any Big Peach Running Co. until June 6.
The summer camp will be held for the fourth summer at Camp Twin Lakes. Campers, with pediatric medical supervision, will learn about health and wellness and participate in activities such as zip-lining and swimming. Family events also are incorporated into the program, starting with a welcome weekend in the spring, a week in the summer for campers only and a family reunion event in the fall.
The camp will be July 7-12, Fort Yargo State Park, Camp Twin Lakes, Will-A-Way, 210 S. Broad St. Winder, Ga., 30680. The cost is $350, including a $50 registration fee. Discounted rates for returning campers. Payment plans and scholarships available. 404-785-7228. www.choa.org/campstrong4life
Two years ago, when Georgia tipped the scales at No. 2 in the country for childhood obesity, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta sprang into action with its Strong4Life community outreach program.
Now, according to numbers released by the state last month, Georgia’s ranking is improving. Still Children’s Healthcare is pushing its message.
Its revamped Strong4Life.com website gives tips on exercising more, reducing screen time, cutting out sugary drinks and adding more fruits and vegetables daily diets.
Children’s Healthcare also has begun blanketing the city with a new ad campaign of billboards and grocery cart ads, print ads and broadcast spots.
Dr. Stephanie Walsh, medical director of wellness at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, said she sees the health effects associated with unhealthy behaviors every day and that the approximately 400 patients the hospital has treated in its Health4Life clinic over the past two years represent the extreme.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “We have to recognize that prevention and not treatment is the answer. Children and their families are suffering. So our message is about empowering the kids and getting them the help they need.”
It’s important that families commit to making even one change, Walsh said, and the message the hospital is seeking to convey is that there are many ways to live healthy.
“What we have learned through our research is that families are all different,” said Linda Matzigkeit, chief administrative officer. “We can’t just tell everyone the same thing, like ‘Go eat carrots.’ We have to meet them where they are.”
Children’s Healthcare is joining with many groups working on helping families get healthier. Matzigkeit cited a collaborative research effort with Emory and Georgia Tech, first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! program, as well as Gov. Nathan Deal’s Georgia SHAPE programs.
All are designed to utilize resources and research findings to give pediatricians, school nutritionists and nurses, recreation and scouting programs leaders as many new tools as possible to provide educational information and activities to help families get active and eat healthier.
According to Matzigkeit, Children’s Healthcare a has a special obligation to be a leader on the issue of childhood obesity because of its position as Georgia’s largest pediatric health care provider.
“The other states don’t have the problems we do, so it’s a different priority for us, and that also makes us a national leader in this field,” she said. “What we found through our research is that about 75 percent of parents of obese kids did not recognize it in their child.”
By 2016, Children’s Healthcare expects to see an improvement in the body mass index of children in Georgia. They say the problem was 30 years in the making — during which childhood obesity increased 300 percent — and it’s not going to disappear in two years.
“Children’s has tried to identify the barriers and target the message to parents in a way to meet them where they are,” Matzigkeit said. “We are trying to send the message that ‘When you’re ready, we’re here for you.’”
