Directions_cover_th.gifAs the school year wraps up and youth across the nation begin their summer vacations, families gain a renewed opportunity to focus on healthy lifestyle choices at home. But PHMC's Community Health Data Base (CHDB) research shows that not all Pennsylvanians receive the proper amount of nutrition and fitness to maintain a healthy lifestyle. One in four adults in the region is obese, and nearly 50% of Philadelphia children ages six to 16 are either overweight or obese. Childhood obesity poses a major public health concern and contributes to the rising cost of healthcare. Recent studies estimate that $117 billion targets treating obesity-related health problems in American children each year. PHMC affiliate Health Promotion Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania (HPC) offers nutrition programs that help improve the health and quality of life for thousands of Philadelphia children and their families.

Promoting Nutrition Education
and Physical Activity

Nutrition for Life provides nutrition education workshops and classes, individual nutrition counseling, cooking demonstrations and healthy food tastings for a variety of community and city agencies, senior centers, primary care health centers and residences for the chronically mentally ill. "Our participants are from the most vulnerable and at-risk populations in our communities. They suffer from nutrition-related health problems including obesity and overweight, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease," states Muffin Friedman, Nutrition for Life director and HPC's director of community services. The program serves individuals who are eligible for the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly the Food Stamp Program.

We ask ‘Where are the gaps and how can we fill them?'"

The USDA provides funding for Nutrition for Life in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and Pennsylvania State University. The program helps SNAP recipients make healthy lifestyle choices, such as shopping smart on a budget. In fiscal year 2008, Nutrition for Life reached more than 7,000 community members through visits to residential homes, parochial schools and health centers, including all of PHMC's health centers. "Most health centers don't have a full-time nutritionist on staff," says Amy Lackpour, Nutrition for Life program manager. "Nutrition for Life goes in and provides the nutrition education that patients and caregivers need to make healthier choices for themselves and their families," Lackpour explains.

HPC also provides nutrition education through the School District of Philadelphia's Eat. Right. Now., a part of Pennsylvania's SNAP-Ed program. Its goal is to encourage physical activity and provide nutrition information to the more than 13,000 elementary students who receive free and reduced breakfast and lunch in 20 Philadelphia public schools, and to their parents and caregivers. Through interactive lessons, this bilingual program encourages students and families to choose healthy foods and physical activity. HPC's nutrition educators visit classrooms throughout the city every week and provide additional educational resources to 450 teachers and nurses.

Reaching Suburban Children

Nutrition issues do not stop at the city limits. HPC's Wellness Initiative for the School Environment: Smart Nutrition and Activity Collaborative (WISE SNAC) promotes consistent messages and opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity within school, home and community settings to 18,000 children in 25 elementary schools in Montgomery County's North Penn, Wissahickon and Souderton area school districts. "Childhood obesity isn't limited to urban, low income kids; it's also a suburban problem," says Courtney Grove, program coordinator for WISE SNAC. In Montgomery County, 23% of children are either overweight or obese.

With funding from the North Penn Community Health Foundation, whose mission is to invest in programs that improve local health, WISE SNAC works directly with food services in schools to put into practice programs and policies that promote healthy eating in the school cafeteria. WISE SNAC collaborates with students, faculty and administration to implement student menu committees. Through these committees, students taste-test healthy choices and provide input into planning healthier school lunches. "Better nutrition is linked to better academic performance," says Grove.

42% of SEPA adults exercise less than the recommended 30 minutes three times per week and 51% of SEPA children participate in physical activity less than three times a week

In addition to providing technical assistance and capacity building, WISE SNAC helps implement programs that reward children who stay active year-round, including the Keystone Active Zone from Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity, which encourages children to use Pennsylvania parks and hiking trails. "Last year, local businesses donated bikes that we raffled off among the 70 kids who participated in the program," says Grove. Currently WISE SNAC works with 45 community organizations and agencies to help implement program measures that help ensure the efficacy of the work. "In this economy, it helps to engage in collaborations with community partners," says Grove. In all economic times, in fact, PHMC and its affiliates seek, and often convene and lead, collaborative public health models that best serve the clients, funders, mission and bottom line.

Supporting Food Providers
in Emergency Shelters

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), funded by the USDA and staffed by HPC, works with the City of Philadelphia's Office of Supportive Housing to provide training and technical support to eight emergency housing sites across the city. HPC develops healthy menus and provides food safety training and education about the importance of improved nutrition for emergency housing providers. As part of its offerings, HPC provides ServSafe®, a nationally recognized program that certifies providers in food safety. In 2008, HPC CACFP staff trained over 70 emergency housing employees in nutrition and food safety. "Every person deserves to have a great meal," says Lynne Snyder, HPC's CACFP program coordinator. "Kids and parents already have so many barriers that have led to homelessness. Our support helps keep them healthy."

Growing Fresh Produce
in Community Gardens

HPC offers nutrition education in the form of cooking classes and demonstrations for the City Harvest program, an initiative led by Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's (PHS) Philadelphia Green program. City Harvest is a collaboration of several partners including the Philadelphia Prison System, where inmates cultivate seedlings in a recently refurbished greenhouse at Riverside Correctional Facility in Northeast Philadelphia. These seedlings move on to the prison's Roots-to-Reentry garden or one of 35 participating community gardens. SHARE (Self-Help and Resource Exchange), a food distribution network, allocates the resulting produce among food cupboards throughout the city. "Last year, City Harvest community gardeners donated 16,000 pounds of food to local cupboards," says Robin Rifkin, HPC program manager, "and they shared it all with people in need throughout their communities." HPC helped ensure the most effective use of these resources by providing cooking demonstrations, tastings and nutrition education to more than 3,000 people last year at various community gardens and food cupboards.

For more information about HPC’s nutrition programs, visit hpcpa.org.




HPC Behind the Nutrition Scene

The places where we live, learn, work and play have a direct impact on our health and quality of life. As the grantee for the Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance (PUFFA), a newly funded local initiative of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, HPC works behind the scenes to influence policy change and locally driven strategies that will positively affect the health and wellbeing of children and families right where they live. PUFFA is a citywide coalition that seeks to provide equitable access to affordable, healthy, locally grown food and safe and inviting places for physical activity and play. It brings community members and experts together to research and create a community action plan that will support healthy choices and make Philadelphia a healthier place to eat and play. "PUFFA aims to change environments to make it easier to be healthy," says Rifkin. "We ask 'Where are the gaps and how can we fill them?' We want to make sure that our children and families have access to fresh, healthy food right in their neighborhoods and feel safe playing outside in their communities, receive fruits and vegetables in school lunches and enjoy regular physical activity, and that schools have proper funding and equipment to prepare meals."

Kellogg selected Philadelphia as one of nine communities across the country participating in its food and fitness initiative. PUFFA is a collaboration among HPC, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, White Dog Community Enterprises and other community partners.