News Releases

Organizations Join Together to Trim Students' Waistlines by Expanding Nutrition, Fitness

Houston, Texas, October 14, 2004 -- Responding to obesity as a growing health threat to American children, Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and three national organizations are launching the Cardinal Health Challenge, a pilot program aimed at improving the nutrition and fitness of middle school students.
   

Memorial Hermann nurse practitioner Cilymol Abraham teaches Burbank Middle School sixth graders about the importance of good nutrition. Through Memorial Hermann Health Centers for Schools, healthcare professionals staffing a school-based clinic at Burbank are implementing a nutrition program as part of a national nutrition and fitness pilot underway at the school.
  

Sixth-graders at Burbank Middle School take a fitness pledge during an assembly Oct. 14. The students are learning about nutrition and fitness through the Cardinal Health Challenge, sponsored by Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, Volunteer Hospitals Association, Inc., Cardinal Health and Project Fit America.

Sixth grader Yasmin Flores demonstrates fitness equipment donated to Burbank Middle School. Designed by Project Fit America, the equipment was purchased through a grant funded by Cardinal Health. Burbank students are competing against schools in four other states through a pilot nutrition and fitness project cosponsored by Memorial Hermann Healthcare System and Volunteer Hospitals Association Inc.

Through the pilot, 200 sixth graders at Burbank Middle School in north central Houston are participating in a hands-on, interactive nutritional education program and are learning fun ways to stay in shape using newly donated outdoor fitness equipment.

The pilot is a collaboration that involves Memorial Hermann, HISD, Cardinal Health, VHA Health Foundation, and Project Fit America. It is part of the Cardinal Health Challenge, an educational program developed by VHA Health Foundation and underwritten by the Cardinal Health Foundation.

Through the Memorial Hermann Health Centers for Schools program, a Memorial Hermann dietitian is implementing the nutritional education aspect of the program. For example, students learn to understand the unhealthy contents of a fast-food hamburger, french fries and a milkshake by actually measuring out the lard and sugar equivalent.

Memorial Hermann Health Centers for Schools, a community benefit program, operates five school-based health centers and one mobile dental van to serve the primary medical, mental and dental needs of uninsured children at 18 Houston-area schools.

“We are excited about piloting this program to help middle school students adopt habits that can help keep them healthy throughout their lives. We hope to expand what we learn from participating in this challenge to other schools we serve,” said Deborah Ganelin, director of the Memorial Hermann Health Center for Schools program.

A grant funded by the Cardinal Health Foundation makes possible the nutritional program and pays for new equipment designed by Project Fit America. This nonprofit organization also provides training and curriculum so physical education teachers can use the equipment to improve their students’ basic fitness levels. The equipment and curriculum used during the competition will remain the permanent property of the school.

Through the Cardinal Health Challenge, Burbank is competing against schools in Albuquerque, N.M., Columbus, Ohio, Highland Park, Ill., and Sacramento, Calif. At the end of the fall semester, the school with the highest scores in fitness and nutrition progress will win $1,000 of additional physical activity equipment.

“There is an alarming trend toward poor exercise and diet habits among our country’s children, and creating positive, school-based programs like the Cardinal Health Challenge is one of the best ways we can stem this tide,” said Linda Dewolf, president of VHA Health Foundation.

“There is no better investment than in the health and well-being of our nation’s youth,” remarked Debra Hadley, executive director of the Cardinal Health Foundation. “We hope it will provide a lasting benefit to the students involved in the challenge, as well as students utilizing the fitness program once the challenge has ended.”

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