Four Ohio hospitals were awarded nearly $100,000 in grants from the Foundation for Healthy Communities in June 2009 to team up with local school districts, health departments and other organizations to fight childhood obesity.  Read the final report.

Cleveland Clinic Foundation, $25,000, 5 To Go!
The Cleveland Clinic was already working on several childhood obesity prevention strategies, but the hospital was looking for assistance in packaging the programs under the 5 to Go! brand.  The comprehensive 5 to Go!  program offers students and families in the community an easy checklist of five steps for good health.  Apart from the usual fruit, veggie and calcium consumption, the checklist stresses fitness and civility.  Steps include limiting children to two hours of media time each day and empowering them to get at least one hour of exercise after school.  The checklist also encourages children to give four compliments a day.  Grant funding allowed the Clinic to further develop the civility curriculum, which is incorporated into the “give and get four compliments a day” element of the 5 to Go! program.

Dunlap Community Hospital, Orrville, $22,803, Planting the Seed in Youth
Dunlap Community Hospital partnered with several local organizations who share a joint goal to change the way Orrville children and adults view nutrition and physical activity by implementing cultural, environmental and policy changes.  At the beginning of the Planting the Seed in Youth program, approximately 100 out of 264 (38 percent) third and fourth grade students at North Elementary School were flagged as overweight or at risk for being overweight.  To address this, the hospital formed the Active Kids Club (AKC), an after-school program that offers physical activity, nutrition education, hands-on food preparation and field trips.

Memorial Hospital of Union County, Marysville, $25,000,
5-4-3-2-1-Go! Take Off Union County
Memorial Hospital of Union County was looking to educate approximately 1,000 fourth and fifth grade students in leading healthy lifestyles.  But their strategy was innovative. Instead of experts doing the teaching, the experts recruited and trained local high school students to present the lessons to the elementary school students.  Using this “train the trainer” model, the program was able to reach both high school volunteers and elementary schools students.

Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton, $25,000,
Healthy Families = A Healthy Community
Children are likely to develop lifestyle habits similar to their parents, with interactions at home affecting the behaviors of children related to calorie intake and physical activity. Minority and underserved children are at an even greater risk, as they are more likely to live in neighborhoods with limited access to high quality nutritious foods. At the start of the Miami Valley Hospital’s Mahogany’s Child program in Dayton, the BMI of 53 percent of the children classified them as overweight. Seventy percent of the participating families had a history of heart disease or diabetes.

To address the higher prevalence of obesity among minority children from families with a lower socioeconomic status, the Healthy Families = A Healthy Community program targeted approximately 180-250 children in these categories, as well as their family members.