234029 Healthy Weight, Healthy Communities - Specialized care of obese children in community health centers

Tuesday, November 9, 2010 : 11:10 AM - 11:30 AM

Shikha Anand, MD, MPH , Director of Community Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center, Pediatric Director, Whittier Street Health Center, Lexington, MA
Two community health center programs that focus on secondary prevention of obesity for underserved children, the Healthy Weight Clinic (HWC) and Fruit and Vegetable Prescription (FVRx) Programs will be described. HWC is a multi-disciplinary obesity clinic that uses health center staff to conduct individualized monthly visits for overweight children. FVRx is designed to provide at-risk families with vouchers for local farm markets to improve fruit and vegetable consumption. Both programs currently operate in a collaborative of community health centers in Massachusetts that share a standardized intake form, web-based data collection system, and training and technical assistance infrastructure.

Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Chronic disease management and prevention
Clinical medicine applied in public health
Program planning
Provision of health care to the public
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the Health Weight Clinic and Fruit and Vegetable Prescription models and their public health impact in the communities they serve.

Keywords: Obesity, Access to Health Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be an abstract author on the content I am responsible for because of my knowledge, skills and expertise in childhood obesity for the past decade.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.