The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #49178

Shae Donham, PhD and Shae Donham, PhD. Department Of Health and Human Performance, Northeastern State University, 603 Grand Ave, Tahlequah, OK 74464, 918-456-5511-3909, colemasl@nsuok.edu

Putting children back into a physically active lifestyles is the focus of the community coalition of Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The population involved lives in an area of low socioeconomis status, is highly populated with Native Americans and has a growing Hispanic population. Concerned and motivated health professionals and citizens identified several risk factors affecting children in the community including Type II Diabetes, child obesity and inactivity. As a result, health check-ups were performed on a subgroup of children in the Tahlequah Public School system attending an after school Girls and Boys Club program. The health check-ups involved fitness testing and recording of BMI levels. After accumulation and reveiw of the data a program called "Get Trekin' The Trail of Tears" was implemented at the beginning of the school year in August of 2002 and will end in May of 2003. The program began as a pilot program with the Tahlequah Boys and Girls club. Participants are required to keep a weekley activity log and incentives are given to those students who are participating in at least 30 minutes of activity three times a week. Participants will also receive incentives for attending nutrition lessons taught by the Northeastern State University nutrition/dietetics club. As a service learning project, fitness testing will be provided by the Northeastern State University Health and Human Performance student club and will take place at the beginning and end of the program.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participants in the session will be able to

• Analyze the Health Check-up results of the children assessed before the implementation of the program.
• Articulate the process used to develop the community based exercise and nutrition program.
• Discuss the objectives identified by the community coalition to meet the needs of the children involved in the program.

Keywords: Child Health Promotion, Community Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.