Oral

Obesity in underserved populations has been attributed to many factors. Public health and environmental factors, lack of community weight management resources for children, and public policies have been implicated in contributing to the epidemic. First, an overview of current Federal Initiatives will be discussed including the First Lady's Let's Move! Initiative, the Presidential Action Report on Childhood Obesity, and HRSA's Healthy Weight Collaborative. The following two sessions will focus on specific community-based obesity interventions currently being employed in underserved areas, beginning with the evidence that led each strategy employed. Obesity continues to be a major problem in both Maine and nationwide. With a limited evidence base, rapid dissemination of successful models and learning is critical to accelerate awareness and facilitate policy and environmental change. The purpose of this presentation is to share midcourse lessons learned from Let’s Go! a multi-sector approach to childhood obesity prevention focusing on the 0-18 population. The Let’s Go! program’s primary goal is to increase the proportion of children living at a healthy weight by promoting increased physical activity and healthy eating. The Let’s Go! model consists of implementing complementary interventions in 6 settings using the 5-2-1-0 healthy living message, and a social marketing campaign with reinforcing messaging links the settings. The presentation will focus on the evolution of the model; review the individual setting intervention components and present findings-to-date among the sector interventions and the Greater Portland community. The presentation will review the evaluation and present statistically significant results to date as well as areas of promising impact. 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.

Session Objectives: Define the overarching Federal Initiatives related to healthy weight as defined by the presentation. Describe the Health Weight Clinic and Fruit and Vegetable Prescription models and their public health impact in the communities they serve. Describe midcourse lessons learned from Let’s Go! a multi-sector approach to childhood obesity prevention focusing on the zero to eighteen population.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)