Bessewk9grantproposal

Lifestyle Intervention Clinic Grant ProposalAxia at University of PhoenixJocelyn Besse9/10/2009 Pediatric nutrition is a social problem that affects every race, gender, and ethnicity. In most countries the problem occurs from a lack of nutrition due to the scarcity of available food, in the United States however, the problem is the opposite. Children in America are at risk of childhood obesity from an excess of nutritionally unsound fast food and not enough activity to burn off the excess calories. Childhood obesity has become one of the leading medical conditions in pediatrics over the span of the last few years. As a nation, we need to implement a strategy to raise awareness and combat this growing epidemic before our children develop preventable medical conditions and raise their own children in the continuation of an unhealthy lifestyle. Childhood obesity has become a leading health issue in the United States. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH) one of five children in the United States is obese. This number is almost double from the number of obese children in the last two decades (National Institute of Health, 2002). Simply being overweight is no longer the only issue concerned with childhood obesity. Research has found that obese children are becoming more susceptible to type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, high blood pressure, orthopedic complications, liver disease, and asthma (National Institute of Health, 2002). Our children are now facing health risks of mature adults due to the amount of fast food, junk food, and lack of activity developing in our society today. Demographics According to the Colorado State University, 16% of children from age 2 to 19 are considered to be obese. Since children’s bodies are rapidly growing and changing, the measuring of their Body Mass Index (BMI) is very specific for age and gender (Bellows and Roach, 2009). Children found to weigh in the 95 percentile of their age and gender are termed obese, and the number of children in this percentile is only growing. We at the Lifestyle Intervention Clinic hope to begin reversing this epidemic before our children grow into adults plagued by the preventable diseases given birth to by obesity. It is our organization’s hope that within the next five years the percentile of obese children will be less than ten percent and in the next ten years that childhood obesity will no longer be an epidemic. Though it will take much longer to fully recover from this onslaught of childhood obesity, the Lifestyle Intervention Clinic is dedicated to reversing the effects until childhood obesity is no longer an issue. Analysis Children who become obese may have a genetic predisposition to easy weight gain, or the increase of weight may be from an undetected medical condition, such as thyroid disease. However, when referring to the recent surge in childhood obesity, those children with medical conditions causing them to gain weight are not the majority of the recent statistics. The culprit of this recent surge is overeating, minimal activity, and a high calorie or high fat diet. We at the Lifestyle Intervention Clinic hope to rehabilitate and inform the youths of today in order to prevent the epidemic from spreading to the next generation. Childhood obesity is one of the largest consequences of our technology leap. With all of the different entertainment consoles available, such as playstations, children have become less active. It was found by the Colorado State University that children between the ages of 8 to 18 spent an average of three hours watching television or playing games on a console or computer (Bellows and Roach, 2009). Not only are these diversions from physical activity present in the home, but technology has made it possible to carry these diversions everywhere the child goes. Even going to the park you can find children simply sitting at picnic tables playing portable games or surfing the internet on their cell phones. Another leading cause of childhood obesity is the high calorie and fatty diets our children are becoming accustomed to. As our lives become overly busy, more and more children are eating too many fast food meals that are high in fat and have over twice the daily recommended calorie intake of 2,000 calories. These meals are also not nutritionally balanced. Until the epidemic of childhood obesity began raising awareness, fast food meals did not provide alternative sides to their meals. There were no fruit or vegetables options to help balance the child’s diet. Since the issue has been brought to the front line, fast food chains such as McDonald’s has begun to offer sides like apples and milk to help make the meal healthier. However, this is still not enough. Children have become accustomed to making poor diet decisions, and though healthier options are available, today’s children need to learn how to make those healthy choices. There are many consequences of childhood obesity beyond the increase in medical diseases that are preventable. Children who are obese often suffer from poor body image and low self-esteem (Bellows and Roach, 2009). The ads children see on television still show flawless women and glorify being thin. These kinds of advertisements only reiterate the child’s insecurities of being overweight. Obese children are also targets of social ostracizing. Other children at school or within the community tease and harass overweight children and this has a profoundly negative effect on the child’s self-esteem. However, it is not only the obese children who suffer. Childhood obesity affects the entire nation, or will in the future. If this epidemic is not reversed, most of these children will remain obese into their adult years. Those children who are obese may not develop any of the diseases associated with obesity until their adult years, but it is inevitable that they will need more health care to either treat these diseases or help prevent them. When today’s obese children mature and have children of their own, they will pass on their poor lifestyle choices to their children and the need for medical treatments of diseases stemming from obesity will continue to rise. For the tax payers that help make Medicaid possible, they may see an increase in taxes to help pay for the rising costs of medical attention that obese patients require. All of the employers who provide health care plans for their employees will have to devout a larger portion of a company’s budget to provide adequate coverage for the medical expenses that will likely develop from obesity. Obesity affects the entire nation, either directly or indirectly, and there is no one gaining anything. Policy Elements The mission of the Lifestyle Intervention Clinic is to raise awareness and to actively seek a reversal of childhood obesity. It is our goal to support, encourage, and educate today’s youth on the positive effects of leading a healthy lifestyle. We want every obese child to find value in themselves and care enough about themselves to take an active approach in learning how to lead a healthier lifestyle. Our objectives at the Lifestyle Intervention Clinic are: to reeducate children on the components of a balanced diet, encourage children to remain active through hands on participation, offer support and counseling to help repair their self esteem, and most importantly we hope to help these children maintain a healthy weight and stave off the risks that are associated with obesity. Our organization will offer nutrition education as well as counseling. Dieticians will educate the children on the different food groups and how many servings of each are required for a healthy diet. These dieticians will also educate the children and their parents on the various different ways of choosing healthy meals whether at home or in restaurants and provide each child with a guide to eating healthy at meal portions and snacks. The counselors will work with children in group therapy to offer support and help in coping with the social ostracizing those children are often victims of when obese. These counselors will also provide exercises and therapy to deal with the children’s self-esteem issues. Along with these provided counseling services, our organization will work closely with the YMCA to offer discounted memberships and trainers at the YMCA to show kids a healthy exercise routine and keep them active for at least one hour a day five days a week. In working closely with the YMCA, our organization hopes to help these children lose the weight they need to lead an active healthy lifestyle, but also to build a routine that is easy for them to keep after they graduate our program. Any child who is considered to be in the 90th percentile of their weight range for age and gender will automatically qualify for admission into our program. However, those children who would like to take the diet and nutrition classes to help monitor their own eating habits will be able to participate, but only in the diet and nutrition classes. Those children who are not obese themselves, but live with a parent or guardian, or have the majority of their family members who are obese will be allowed to participate in all aspects of the programs. It is our hope at the Lifestyle Intervention Clinic, that these children who are living with obese family members and join our program will educate their families and teach them to live healthier lifestyles as well. At the start of the program the child will be weighed and progress will be measured by each pound lost during the week until the next weigh in at the beginning of the week. The weigh-ins will remain private, so as not to embarrass the child in front of their peers, however, the total amount of pounds lost will be announced during the group therapy so that they may receive congratulations, encouragement, and support from their peers. Our organization will operate within a centralized service delivery system. As the CEO of Lifestyle Intervention Clinic, I will work closely with all clients and employees to ensure that services are provided to the utmost of our organizations ability. Each employee will report their progress and cases to their department manager, and they in turn, shall report to me. Our organization will head two main departments of group therapy consisting of three licensed counselors specializing in the emotional development of children. The other department shall consist of three dieticians to counsel parents and children on healthy eating choices. Our third department shall be responsible for the monitoring and transportation of children to the YMCA for physical activity five days a week. Managers of each department shall report directly to me. The Lifestyle Intervention Clinic’s program theory is as follows: ,[object Object]

Parent and child are uneducated concerning portion size, nutrition, and healthy alternatives.

Parent allows the child to dictate meals, when and how much they eat, allows inappropriate snacking throughout the day and does not promote physical activity.

Teaching both parent and child that the parent is responsible for meals, the child may be offered a choice, but needs to eat what is provided for them

Ensuring that the parents learn to prepare healthy, balanced meals and limit the amount of fast food to once a week.

Teaching both parent and child that snacks should be limited to after lunch or school and are not meant to satisfy the child’s appetite, but rather to hold them over until the proper mealtime.

Encouraging child to eat healthy snacks between meals such as fruit, whole grains, or vegetables.

Teaching the parent to encourage physical activity by limiting the amount of time for television and games to one hour a day, preferably before bed as a tool to help children wind down from physical activity.

Parent and child should both keep a food journal of the meals prepared throughout the week and bring with them to discuss with the dietician.

Bessewk9grantproposal

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