Fit Kids Program Aims to Reduce Childhood Obesity in Flagstaff

Organizers of Fit Kids of Arizona pose in a group picture. (Photo: NAZ Today)

FLAGSTAFF (NAZ Today) – With a steady, upward trend in childhood obesity and a life expectancy for America’s future adults declining, Fit Kids of Arizona is stepping in to help secure a healthy lifestyle for the upcoming generation.

Knowing many American children will live a shorter and lower quality of life than generations before has motivated organizations worldwide to do something about obesity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obese children are at risk for developing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and other factors associated with heart disease.

On Jan. 27, 2009, Fit Kids of Arizona was opened by the Northern Arizona Healthcare (NAH) in order to prevent childhood obesity and to instill healthy lifestyle choices into America’s future. NAH is a nonprofit hospital that is subsidizing the program and providing funding that is not being recovered from families or through insurance. “We work to support community outreach efforts and we will not deny anybody care for lack of ability to pay,” said Starla Collins, public relations officer at Flagstaff Medical Center.

With one in three children in the United States overweight or obese, Fit Kids of Arizona is looking to prevent the problem in the future. “We don’t want anybody to have the problems of obesity so we really want to stop it before it occurs,” said Hernandez, program manager. Because the problem of obesity has hit epidemic proportions, the generation of children growing up now will “have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.” The program’s goal is to catch the problem early “because when it’s a problem in kids it’s going to stay a problem in adults,” said Hernandez. By working with children early in life, obesity can be addressed through teaching children good lifestyle and behavioral choices like regular mealtime, controlling food intake and planning meals. These healthy nutrition habits often continue into adulthood.

“Our focus is not weight loss,” said Hernandez but teaching kids how to make healthy food choices, enjoy physical activity and decrease the amount of time kids spend in front of the television.

Although most of their efforts are focused on working with the clinic, the Fit Kids program is looking for ways to work within the school district and after-school programs to bring in more nutritional education “by partnering with the schools and working some of that into the mandated curriculum,” said Hernandez. Family and Community Teaming for Students (FACTS) is an after-school program that works with children from kindergarten through sixth grade in Flagstaff. The Fit Kids program plans to partner with FACTS in the future in order to target children because “then we are not taking away from the academic day…but we can still reach a large portion of the kids,” said Hernandez.

When it comes to nutritional education, the goal at FACTS is to “educate [kids] on what’s healthy and what is not,” said Melissa Klemp, the assistant coordinator. The program’s faculty is aware of the problem of obesity in children and they work hard “to keep their children active,” said Klemp. Children under the care of FACTS are not allowed to sit in front of the television or play video games but are encouraged to go outside and play. FACTS participates in the Child & Adult Care Food Program that works to improve day care facilities with nutritional meal plans and snacks that contain no more than two high sugars and two high fats while watching serving size portions.

The Fit Kids of Arizona has recently partnered with affiliates like Snowbowl and Summit Gymnastics, to offer children physical activities through the program. On Friday, Sept. 25^th, Fit Kids of Arizona will be taking a field trip to Summit Gymnastics to “just go and play,” said Hernandez. The program will continue to develop community relationships with other organizations that will add to the overall success of promoting a healthier lifestyle for America’s future adults.

To get involved in the Fit Kids for Arizona program, families need a referral from their primary care doctor. A referral from a doctor or primary caregiver will include an examination of the body mass index (BMI), a number calculated from the child’s height and weight.