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Billy Clay (standing/left), a Bluefield State College second year nursing student, and Justin Jeffries (standing/right) a student at the WV School of Osteopathic Medicine) help students understand the importance of the “food pyramid” during a recent Childhood Obesity workshop at the Wade Center in Bluefield. |
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Bobbie Lilly (standing behind the students), a Bluefield State College second year nursing student, helps students learn the “Dance, Dance, Revolution” exercise program during a recent Childhood Obesity workshop at the Wade Center in Bluefield. |
( Bluefield)—With childhood obesity reaching epidemic levels in West Virginia, two Bluefield State College nursing students recently collaborated with an interdisciplinary team to develop and present an afternoon-long workshop designed to help area children and their families combat this growing problem. More than 30 area elementary and secondary school students participated in the program at the Wade Center in Bluefield.
Bobbie Lilly and Billy Clay, second-year nursing students at BSC, joined medical students from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) and a medical school residency student for an intensive three week initiative, coordinated by the South Eastern (West Virginia) Area Health Education Center (SE AHEC). “The team studied nutrition and overweight issues with children, then put together intervention strategies that would be educational, fun, and effective for the children involved, explained Dr. Bernadette Dragich, BSC Professor of Nursing. “The team addressed ‘West Virginia Healthy People 2010’ objectives through collaboration and community involvement.” This interfacing of students permitted them to take strengths from each discipline to promote better care for all clients.
The initial planning meeting for this initiative took place at Princeton Community Hospital on September. Clay (who is also president of the BSC Student Nurses Association) collaborated with Justin Jeffries, a WV School of Osteopathic Medicine medical student, to develop intervention strategies addressing “Nutrition and Childhood Obesity.” “My section focused upon nutrition education,” Clay said. “The children heard about calories—what they are, how they affect our bodies, the amount of calories needed daily, where to locate calorie information on labels, and the consequence of taking too many calories while not exercising regularly.” Clay’s team created a large “food pyramid” structure upon which children placed food items into the proper food categories.
Lilly (BSC Student Nurses Association vice president) and her team-teaching partner Kate Leffel (from WVSOM) focused upon helping the children learn a fun-based physical activity that could burn calories and replace the students’ sedentary lifestyle. “We demonstrated the ‘Dance, Dance, Revolution’ program, then gave the children an opportunity to try it,” she recounted. “Some already knew how to play, and the others caught on quickly.”
She also hopes to change the mindset of the children and their parents, too. “In our society, both parents generally have to work, so we often rely on television and videogames to babysit our children,” she said. “With longer work days, it’s much easier to bring home a fast food dinner than to cook a healthy, balanced meal. This gives the children a chance to learn that there are fun ways to exercise and be healthy.”
“I really hope the children took some helpful information from our program,” Clay said. “When they eat, I hope they think ‘portion sizes.’ When they come home from school, I hope they think ‘physical activity.’ I really hope the kids now realize how important their health really is.”
October 6, 2006
School of Nursing & Allied Health Website
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