Childhood obesity has been labeled a national epidemic, and in Missouri, 28 percent of children ages 10 to 17 are considered overweight or obese. Area schools, with the assistance of Capital Region Medical Center (CRMC), are tackling the problem within their communities.
This year, a statewide nonprofit organization, Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH), awarded its Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities grant to Jefferson City Public Schools and Morgan County R-2 Schools in Versailles, funding the establishment of a childhood obesity prevention program. A school's free and reduced lunch rate must be at 60 percent or greater to be considered.
Because of the high volume of Jefferson City Public Schools students, not all of its schools were awarded the grant. With a focus on K-8 grades, four Jefferson City elementary schools will host a Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities program: East, South, Thorpe Gordon and Callaway Hills. Through the grant, a school-based wellness coordinator will create healthy living lessons and activities within the classroom walls as a community-based wellness coordinator develops the same for the general public.
The overall goal of the program is to reduce the body mass index (BMI), a measurement used to calculate obesity, by five percent within the five-year period of the grant.
In 2013, the Eldon School District was the first central Missouri district to receive the grant. Between the three school districts, the MFH will have invested more than $2 million into those communities over the grant period, said Tiffany Rutledge, CRMC corporate and community health coordinator.
Eldon elementary and middle school students have experienced a one percent BMI reduction, decreasing from 23 to 22 percent, between winter 2013 and spring 2015, Rutledge said, and they're on track to continue that trend. Students can opt for the salad bar at lunch, participate in a morning walking program and play a sport during after school intramurals.
Along with five of her peers, Alex Jeffries, an Eldon Middle School eighth-grade student, created pizza sauce using ingredients - tomatoes, basil and oregano - from the school's garden on Wednesday. Jeffries said she's enjoyed the healthy changes her school has made, adding kale chips are "good, surprisingly." The salad bar gives students the option to eat fruits and vegetables, she said, and the young girl has instilled healthy habits at home.
Her family walks the school track, which she said sometimes turns into a family foot race. Jeffries' family also goes bike riding and they eat salads for dinner on Fridays.
"We want to live healthier and longer," she said.
That's the message designed to stay with the students for the rest of their lives - carried out through their daily choices. Children who are obese are more likely to remain obese into adulthood. In Missouri, 30 percent of adults are obese with a BMI of 30 or greater, making it the 20th heaviest state in the country. Cole County has a rate of 25.8 percent while Morgan and Miller counties total to 31.2 percent and 33.5 percent, respectively, according to a 2011 Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services study.
Missouri's high school students are the most overweight and obese of the state's youth at a rate of 14.9 percent. Of 2- to 4-year-olds from low-income families, 12.9 percent fall into the category.
Targeting children - as early as kindergarten - is key in reversing the trend, said Terry Atteberry, Eldon Schools' wellness coordinator.
"That's when they're learning. That's when it all takes place - those habits are forming at that age," she said. "If you can get them at that age and you can make a difference, then hopefully they stick with it on throughout the years. The older they get, the harder it is to change those habits. So, we want to be able to teach them when they're younger and start creating those healthy habits at an early age that will stick with them for a lifetime."
Wellness coordinators in Jefferson City and Versailles schools will conduct a needs assessment, identifying areas for improvement. In conjunction with the assessment, both communities will build a community collaborative and search for partners in their missions. CRMC community coordinators for the newly-awarded schools will begin their roles on Oct. 26 and work with the school coordinators to kickoff the assessment process.
In Eldon, Atteberry said there was a need for nutrition education and increased physical activity. Middle school students participate in a physical education class daily, but elementary students do not due to curriculum requirements and a high number of students. The challenge, Atteberry said, was ensuring the children had daily 60-minute opportunities for exercise.
"We realized we needed to start putting in that physical activity anywhere we could," she said.
Guests lead students in different activities daily, such as line dancing, Zumba and Crossfit, before the morning bell rings. Atteberry said teachers have also incorporated physical activity into their lesson plans and reward their students with extra recess time or fruits instead of candy or fattening snacks. Teachers are also setting the example for students by drinking more water and eating healthy foods.
On the community side, Michele Griswold, Eldon's community coordinator, has worked with the Rock Island Trail project and helped ensure a $24,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for an Eldon walk-ability study. Rutledge said Eldon Schools leveraged more than $28,000 in grants from national companies and organizations to secure funding for bike racks, a grab-and-go breakfast program, park benches and an upcoming zombie 5K run.
Through the Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities program in Eldon, more than 17,000 children and adults have been reached through one-time events and multi-week programming, Rutledge said. Misconduct episodes during school hours have decreased by more than 1,000 episodes from the 2012-13 and 2013-14 academic years. Children walk and bike to school more frequently, the absentee rate is decreasing and students reported enjoying PE more.
"They're hearing this and they're grasping it," Atteberry said. "Students will come up to me in the grocery store and say, "Hey, Ms. Atteberry, I'm buying white milk,' or "Ms. Atteberry, I'm buying apples.' The parents come up and say, "I don't know what you're teaching them, but they don't want the sugary cereal anymore.'"