Physical activity can help raise a healthier generation of kids in San Antonio, where there is high risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Complete streets, playful neighborhoods, and greenways are a few new ways to help create opportunities for physical activity, according to a new article in The Rivard Report by Amanda Merck of Salud America!, a national Latino childhood obesity prevention network funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and based at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. Merck suggests the city connect with groups that are already working to make the healthy choice the easy choice. For example, she suggests the Active Living Council of San Antonio—a public-private partnership of policymakers, business leaders, school officials, program ...
Neighborhood leaders and residents like Paul D. López and Fany Mendez in the Denver, Colo., neighborhood of Westwood worked together with local organizations to tackle safety concerns on Morrison Road, an arterial street that bisected their neighborhood. In addition to safety issues, they were also concerned about health, because kids can’t play and people can’t walk on busy, unsafe streets. Their efforts led to a pedestrian-activated traffic light, traffic calming features, medians, and aesthetically-pleasing infrastructure and landscaping to make the road more accessible to all. Unsafe Street Scares Kids and Families
Paul D. López, the District 3 City Councilmember in Denver, Colo. (31.8% Latino), grew up a few blocks from his current office on Morrison Road, a busy main ...
Neighborhood conditions can have major health effects. WATCH and VOTE for new Salud America! #SaludHeroes who made neighborhoods healthier places to live, learn, and play—and be entered in a random drawing to win a FREE T-shirt and jump rope! #SaludHeroes in the neighborhood are: How to Make a Walkable Neighborhood. Urban designers Nicolas Rivard and Allison Hu mobilized neighbors to request walkable streetscapes in San Antonio. Rescuing Unwanted Fruit. Sarah Ramirez increased healthy food access in Tulare County, Calif., by picking unused produce from yards and donating it to the food bank. Greenway to Health. Erica Whitfield and other health advocates redeveloped an abandoned alley in Lake Worth, Fla., into an attractive greenway to increase walkability and ...
New research, reported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has determined that access to safe neighborhood spaces for physical activity can help families and kids maintain a healthy weight, but it is not often enough. According to a recent estimate, nearly 40% of U.S. Latino youths ages 2-19 are overweight or obese, compared with only 28.5% of non-Latino white youths. Also, the percentage of those who are overweight or obese between ages 2-5 is nearly 30% for Latino children compared with only 21% of non-Latino white children. According to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana healthcare economist Mike Bertaut, healthcare providers—and health insurers—play a critical role for families and children at high risk for obesity and/or obesity-related disease. “Obesity is the ...
A new proposed ordinance for all food establishments to offer water and milk as default beverages on kids menus is being discussed among the Chula Vista City Council. The new ordinance is a joint effort between city staff members, the San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative, Community Health Improvement Partners and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy in hopes to decrease childhood obesity. A districtwide survey of student's height and weight in 2010 had found that 39.8 percent of students in the survey were overweight or obese. However, recent efforts to decrease childhood obesity by increasing physical activity in schools , revamping wellness policies, making healthy fundraising changes, ending unhealthy school snacks and removing chocolate milk from the lunch ...
Joining the movement of many health groups, certain groups in Maryland want to label sugar-sweetened beverages. This doesn't come as a surprise, as many cities are starting to discuss soda taxes across the country including three cities in California, with big pushes in various cities in Calif. and in Philadelphia, Illinois. "There's a national movement working to reduce rates of heart disease, tooth decay, diabetes that are directly related to sugary drinks, here in Maryland, particularly in Baltimore, we are focused on education, ... this measure is about transparency, this is really about a consumers the right to know, " said Robi Rawl director of Sugar-Free kids Maryland, in the local news video. About 22 percent of Latino high-school students drink three or more sugary ...
In the San Antonio, Texas area (69% Latino) families, health care leaders like Dr. Mark Gilger, and philanthropy groups like the Goldsbury Foundation are exploring what healthy and culturally fun Latino meals look like with the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio’s new Culinary Health Education for Families (CHEF) program. Aiming to be a new culinary health model for families needing help in preventing diet-related disease such as childhood diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, the goal of the program is to provide San Antonio residents with tools, resources, and education to lead healthier lives and encourage healthy weights for children.
EMERGENCE
Awareness/Learn: Dr. Mark Gilger, pediatrician-in-chief at the Children’s Hospital in San Antonio, has seen first-hand a local and ...
In Las Cruces, NM city council members will meet today, May 23, 2016, to discuss plans for expanding the local agriculture and food environment, through a comprehensive Urban Agriculture and Food Policy plan, developed by local non-profit La Semilla Food Center. Exactly what is urban agriculture (UA)? The idea is to inform leaders about the many forms, benefits and opportunities that UA has to offer the local community. UA is the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in and around towns and cities. Through UA communities are no longer held to the idea that local growing is just for farmers or rural communities, but in reality schools, churches, local businesses, housing authorities, residents and virtually anyone with a desire to grow and produce their ...
Do kids have the power to change America’s “fattest” city? Yes! A group of middle school students created a healthy eating and activity program to teach elementary students in Corpus Christi, Texas—once dubbed the nation's fattest city. Now they've won the Salud America! #SaludHeroes video voting contest! Watch their winning video or read their story about how Sarita Damaraju, Doug Hagemeister, and other students planned, mobilized support for, design, and implemented their for-kids, by-kids educational program "Mission FitPossible" across Corpus Christi Independent School District. The program includes nutrition education videos, “Fitness Jeopardy,” jump rope contests, fitness challenges, and a 5K event over 10 weeks. “Seeing kids actually get excited ...
