Tuesday, November 22, 2011
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UHS receives state obesity grant funding
UHS is one of nine regional organizations awarded a New York State grant to reduce child and adolescent obesity. Sara Delafield, MPA, Manager, UHS Center for Community Health, stated that the hospital’s Stay Healthy Center staff, who specialize in health care outreach and education, will perform the workplan submitted to the state Department of Health.
The Stay Healthy workforce will work with health care providers in Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Tioga, and Tompkins counties, giving them access to greater tools to assess pediatric patients for weight problems and to motivate and educate them and their parents so they can overcome the risk for a lifetime of serious health problems including diabetes, coronary disease or hypertension, which can result from being overweight.
Ms. Delafield stated, “We are very excited to be able to offer the resources of this program to local health care providers and we look forward to working with them. The Stay Healthy staff will begin to visit practices in Chenango County to talk with providers about the American Medical Association’s Expert Committee Recommendations for the Assessment, Prevention and Treatment of Child and Adolescent Overweight and Obesity after the first of the year. Working together we can help to mitigate the potential for chronic disease in our region.”
This grant funding may last up to five years, which should enable the Stay Healthy staff to work with many local healthcare providers.
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