Published: May 20, 2008 11:05 am      

Getting students healthy

All Saints awarded $10,000 from hospital’s Healthy Kids initiative

All Saints Catholic School was awarded $10,000 on Tuesday from Logansport Memorial Hospital for its efforts to get students healthy.

The hospital’s Healthy Kids Body Mass Index initiative included nine schools in three local school corporations in which 1,607 students’ BMIs were measured — once in March 2007 and again in March of this year.

The goal of the program was to determine whether the emphasis placed on proper nutrition and exercise in local schools would help children choose healthy habits both at school and at home, and to decrease the incidence of obesity that leads to diabetes and other detrimental chronic diseases.

Representatives from the schools attended a luncheon at the hospital on Tuesday.

Students from All Saints received the top prize, which was made possible by the McTaggart Charitable Trust Fund, because they had the greatest decrease in average BMIs.

Franklin Elementary and Columbia Middle schools were awarded $500 each for increased student participation from 2007. Fairview Elementary School also received $500 for the school with the most innovative ideas.

The Logansport Memorial Hospital Foundation donated $1,500, and a BMI scale was purchased by the Mary Dykeman Guild.

Brian Shockney, the hospital’s and president and chief executive officer, said hospital administrators asked the schools what it would take to motivate the students to get healthy.

“They all said cash,” Shockney laughed.

Shockney said the program was developed after the Centers for Disease Control issued a report in 2006 stating that the rate of childhood obesity and poor habits had reached the level that many children would not outlive their parents.

Also, statistics showed that Cass County children have a higher incidence of obesity and diabetes than state and national norms.

The hospital developed handouts and newsletters for parents and teachers including information about body mass indexes, healthy weight for children, diet and nutrition.

Overall, the average BMI of students in the nine participating schools went from 19.5 percent to 19.9 between 2007 and 2008.

Shockney said this was a large improvement, though, because in previous years, BMIs had been increasing by up to 8 percent per year.

The prize money for the schools will be used to develop programs to promote health and fitness.

All Saints principal James McNeany said he didn’t know yet what the money would be used for.

“This was unexpected,” he said. “We hadn’t planned for it.”

He said their healthy snack program helped the school take the win, as well as the parents, who embraced the program. A dietitian came in to the school last school year to talk to students as well.

Fairview principal Chris Hess said the school’s parent-teacher organization came up with unique ideas to promote health.

One thing the students did was come up with a healthy snack for each classroom. The winners got to participate in a Nutrition Olympics, in which Hess participated.

Shockney said the hospital would continue the study over the next four years. He hopes more students and schools will participate.

“Our main goals is to get kids healthy,” he said.

Melissa Soria may be reached at (574) 732-5143 or via e-mail at melissa.soria@pharostribune.com