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Battling A Big Problem

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By MICHELE SAGER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 19, 2008

Updated: 01/17/2008 06:45 pm

EAST TAMPA - A USF pediatrician is making school visits in an effort to combat childhood obesity.

Denise Edwards, a pediatrician at the University of South Florida, is conducting a community program using the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile to raise awareness about weight issues in children.

She recently received a $10,000 grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics' Community Access to Child Health program and the national milk campaign for her obesity recognition program.

The goal of the program is to provide information about obesity issues to students who don't have access to constant health care. The percentage of overweight children and teens has tripled in the past two decades, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Edwards and a team of USF pediatricians and nurses will visit a half-dozen schools in Hillsborough County with a high population of low-income students.

Students must sign up for the program. Then, their body measurements are taken, and they are taught about nutrition, fitness and making healthy choices.

Edwards said the program's ultimate goal is getting students to make healthy choices, not weight loss.

"We want the students to take the information we give them and learn how to use that information to eat healthy," she said.

Charee Belcher, an eighth-grader at the Carl Sagan Academy, said she signed up for the program so she would eat better and lose weight.

"I try to eat well, but I love foods like pizza," she said. "I just want to learn how I can be healthier."

Michael Wilson, a registered nurse at Carl Sagan Academy, said Edwards' program is important because it brings education and access to many students who need it.

"It's especially important when you have large populations of minority students who aren't getting healthy messages at home," he said. "Many students come from single-mother homes where Mom works at a fast-food restaurant and doesn't have time to make dinner, so she just brings home fast food."
Doctors and nurses will make visits during the next six months to the schools to monitor progress of the students.

Reporter Michele Sager can be reached at (813) 865-4843 or msager@tampatrib.com.

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