Mercy Hospital Fairfield and Fairfield City Schools will team up to combat obesity, initially focusing on fourth-grade students at East Elementary School. The Elementary Wellness Program is funded by a $15,000 grant from the Ohio Hospital Association’s Foundation for Healthy Communities.

The wellness program aims to teach students healthy behaviors related to fitness, nutrition and lifestyle management, and how to retain these healthy habits for a lifetime. By reaching children at an age when their tastes, habits and beliefs are still developing, the program will help change attitudes and behaviors to create a lifelong orientation for healthy lifestyle, nutrition and fitness.                                

The school-based curriculum has varied activities designed to help overweight and obese third-graders decrease their body mass index (BMI).  Key components include daily wellness announcements by students, wellness activities during the transitions between classes, journaling by students, weekly newsletters for parents, monthly rallies and town hall meetings for the community, incentives and health screenings. They will be incorporated with existing wellness policies and initiatives already adopted by Fairfield City Schools. The collaborating partners are: Mercy Hospital Fairfield, the Fairfield City Schools, Mercy Healthy Weight Solutions, and the Mercy HealthPlex Fairfield.

East Elementary School has about 600 students in grades 1-4. Approximately 180 fourth-graders are the primary group to be served, but their parents, siblings, and other members of the community will also be involved. 

The 2008 Ohio Family Health Survey reported that 29.7% of children ages 10-17 in Butler County were overweight (15.6%) or obese (14.1%). Fairfield students are likely to have a similar distribution with almost 30% expected to be overweight or obese and about 2% underweight.

A goal of the program is that by June 2011, overweight and obese children will experience a 10% decrease in BMI, and other children will maintain a healthy BMI, measured at the beginning and end of the school year. 

As part of the program, Mercy Hospital Fairfield will conduct five health screenings at no charge during the monthly rallies for parents and community members. Also, weekly newsletters and eight to nine monthly town hall meetings will keep families and the larger school community up to date on the progress of the program.

The program will build on small, incremental accomplishments to foster a positive environment.   Points will be awarded for results like daily writing in their journal; logging physical exercise for a week; having fruit or water at lunch; or exceeding the target for each 10-week period.
Incentives will be used at periodic intervals in order to reward participants’ efforts.

A teacher and parent program evaluation will be given at the end of the program. This will allow Mercy Hospital Fairfield to determine which strategies are potential best practices and where there is an opportunity for continuous improvement in the program.

Mercy Fairfield HealthPlex will develop the daily wellness announcements for students to read, provide weekly newsletters for students to take home, and provide the incentives for the program. Mercy Healthy Weight Solutions will provide program oversight, professional staff to help develop interactive journals, and health risk assessment tools.

If the program is successful, Mercy Hospital Fairfield, in conjunction with Fairfield City Schools, will look to expand the program with funding from local donors and private foundations.

The grants were formally presented on June 16 during the Leadership Luncheon at the Ohio Hospital Association annual meeting in Columbus.

The Foundation for Healthy Communities was established in 1994 and its mission is to advance good health for all Ohioans. Learn more about the Foundation for Healthy Communities at www.HealthyCommunitiesOhio.org.        

The Ohio Hospital Association was established in 1915 and currently represents 169 hospitals and 18 health systems throughout Ohio. Visit OHA’s website at www.ohanet.org.