Bilingual Model Program to Combat Childhood Obesity
$100,000 Grant Launches Innovative Project
Albright College, The Reading Hospital and
Medical Center, and Penn State Berks will
partner to create a bilingual model program
to combat childhood obesity in Berks
County. The project was awarded a $100,000
grant from the Community General Hospital
Healthcare Fund of the Berks County Community
Foundation. Albright will administer the
grant and coordinate the program.
In 2006, a health report commissioned
by the Berks County Community Foundation
determined that obesity among Berks residents
is strongly related to major health issues
and increased disease. In response, the foundation
awarded funding to selected programs
proposed by nonprofit organizations and
school districts to help Berks children increase
their health consciousness and level of exercise
and reduce their level of obesity.
The three-year project will develop a
bilingual model program that will eventually
be made available to all Berks County
school districts. The program is designed for
children from four to 10 years old and will
have three components: nutrition, exercise
and recreation, and emotional well-being.
Children and their caregivers will attend weekly
90-minute sessions for 10 weeks. The pilot
program will run for two 10-week sessions per
year. Albright students will provide interpretative
services and bilingual materials for caregivers
and siblings during the sessions.
Albright will conduct the emotional wellbeing
component of the program, designed
to foster healthy coping mechanisms in
children and help caregivers understand
how adult behaviors impact the emotions
and behaviors of children. The well-being
component will be coordinated by psychology
professor Patricia Snyder, Ph.D. ’70,
who will be assisted by Albright psychology,
education and pre-med students.
The nutrition component will be conducted
by nutrition specialists from The
Reading Hospital who have created a pediatric
obesity program, F.I.T.T. (Fun active
healthy youth), in collaboration with Penn
State Berks and Penn State Cooperative
Extension Nutrition Links. The program
will teach participants how to make healthy
food choices for a well-balanced diet, explain
health benefits of the five food groups and
address eating behaviors.
Penn State Berks will conduct the exercise
and recreation component which will
engage children in fun physical activity, teach
families why physical activity is important
and suggest activities for individuals and
families. Exercise activities will be conducted
by Penn State Berks kinesiology students
who have already partnered with Reading
Hospital’s F.I.T.T. program.
The childhood obesity program will begin
in fall 2007 and will be held at Albright’s new
Schumo Center for Fitness and Well-Being.
The program will include extensive participation
by parents and caregivers. As incentives
to participate, caregivers will be able
to bring their families to regular open swim
sessions and use fitness facilities at Albright.
Tutors will also be available to help siblings of
program participants with homework.
In the first year of the three-year project,
the program will involve four year olds, five
year olds and kindergarten pupils, all from
the Albright Learning Center, the College’s
childcare center for children from one-year
old through first grade. The second year will
involve first and second graders from the
13th and Union Elementary School in Reading.
The third year will involve third, fourth
and fifth graders from 13th and Union.
After three years, the model for the
program will be offered to all Reading and
Berks County school districts to modify for
their own use.
Andrea Chapdelaine, Ph.D., provost, said,“Albright is delighted to be part of a project
we believe will have a major community
impact. In fact, the grant will have a double
impact for Albright. As the first community
initiative planned for our new Schumo
Center, the childhood obesity pilot will also
be an important service-learning opportunity
for Albright students.”
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