Grant targets child obesity in Idaho

HAYDEN - The Idaho Community Foundation will grant up to $50,000 a year for three years to the Panhandle Health District as part of a partnership to help reduce childhood obesity in the five northern counties of the state.

A recent Idaho Department of Health and Welfare study found 29 percent of Idaho's children are overweight or obese, based on a comparison of BMIs (body mass index) on a sex- and age-specific growth chart.

Idaho's adult obesity rate is 27 percent. In 1995, Idaho's adult obesity rate was 14.2 percent. Obese people are more likely to suffer from a variety of chronic ailments including eight types of cancer. Healthcare related to obesity costs Idaho about $324 million each year.

"One of the main reasons ICF chose childhood obesity is that being overweight during childhood and adolescence increases the risk of developing high cholesterol, hypertension, respiratory ailments, orthopedic problems, depression and Type 2 diabetes," said Bob Hoover, ICF president and CEO.

PHD's plan to reduce childhood obesity focuses on children during their preschool years when they're first learning that the right foods work with physical activity to help keep them healthy. Idaho received a failing grade in a recent assessment of state regulations related to obesity prevention in child care settings.

PHD will use the funding from ICF to train staff for 155 licensed child care sites throughout the five northern counties in the Color Me Healthy program. Color Me Healthy is an evidence-based program created through a partnership between the North Carolina Cooperative Extension and the North Carolina Division of Public Health-Physical Activity and Nutrition branch.

With color, music and exploration of the five senses, the program teaches young children that healthy foods and physical activity are fun. Color Me Healthy has won two national awards and been used in more than 50,000 child care sites nationwide.

The Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health will donate the Color Me Healthy kits for the project. Child care sites that participate will post a window cling bearing the Color Me Healthy logo.

Hoover will announce the grant to PHD at ICF's third annual North Idaho Luncheon, June 19, at the Coeur d'Alene Resort. Keynote speaker Kyle Unland, director of the Division of Health Promotion for the Spokane Regional Health District and a national expert on childhood obesity, will talk about the role communities can play in the effort to reduce obesity.

ICF and PHD are encouraging pediatric physicians, hospitals, grocery stores, the media and others to support the project by publicizing the risks of childhood obesity and providing information and activities to prevent it.