Children First 2005 Conference Summary

Physical Health

Businesses

            ▪ Encourage physical activity by allowing stretch/walk breaks.

            ▪ Provide free bottled water for employees to drink.  Make water more accessible than it's not so healthy alternatives (soda, juice, coffee etc.)

            ▪ Provide incentives for help. Offer reduced health insurance cost for families who meet certain criteria reflecting health and exercise.

            ▪ Support a healthy community by contributing to healthy causes, market health and work site wellness and/or advertise in order to raise community awareness.

            ▪ Create more family sensitive schedules to allow more parents to be home during meal time.

Educators

            ▪ Integrate health and fitness into the curriculum by making physical activity part of daily teaching or tie in a daily health component.

            ▪ Role model healthy habits by drinking water instead of soda or juice, eating healthy snacks/meals and expressing care and concern for personal and community health.

            ▪ Make healthy food and drink available to students.  If snacks are available in the classroom make them healthy, make fresh fruit accessible, encourage kids to try "new" foods and get rid unhealthy vending machines.

            ▪ Provide education to parents on how to promote healthy eating and physical activity with children.

            ▪Offer intramural sports events that are not focused on competition.

Community Groups

            ▪ Support programs that encourage healthy lifestyles such as recreation leagues, Backpack programs, walk-a-thons and community gardens.

            ▪ Offer community events featuring healthy lifestyle choices including healthy food, exercise and information that will raise community awareness in regards to health.

            ▪ Campaign using strategies similar to those used in tobacco or drug use reduction campaigns such as soliciting speakers who have suffered from obesity and overcome it.

            ▪ Advertise information on healthy lifestyles in newsletters and bulletin boards.

            ▪ Make healthy lifestyle choices more accessible by providing transportation, healthier food choices, health clinics and fresh produce.

Children and Youth

            ▪ PLAY!!!! Spend time outside, ride bikes, hike, swim, play with siblings and ask adults to play outside with you.

            ▪ Adolescents can be role models for younger generations.  Mentor and make health cool to eat healthy and exercise.

            ▪ Help parents cook dinner and go grocery shopping.

            ▪ Join Healthy Buncombe.

            ▪ Participate in community events that are health or activity based.

Families

            ▪ Turn off the television!  Limit the time that the television or computer are on  and replace that time with physical activity. Do not allow televisions in kid's rooms.

            ▪ Cook and prepare meals together including grocery shopping and allow kids to make choices regarding healthy foods that they like.

            ▪ Try new things.  Experiment with new healthy snack and make them together. 

            ▪ Avoid having juice and soda in the house.  Try replacing these things with water or milk.  If you do have juice make sure that it is 100% juice.

            ▪ Family members/parents that practice healthy eating habits could put effort into sharing the knowledge needed to do so with other parents.  Create a collaborative of parents helping parent.

Elected Officials

          ▪ Fund recreation areas and things that promote activity such as parks, greenways, sidewalks and bike lanes.

            ▪ Provide more funding for school lunch programs that offer fresh foods, fruit, vegetables and less processed foods.

            ▪ Support legislation to extend the length of school lunches to include time for physical activity.

            ▪ Provide additional funding to lengthen physical education classes and for more adequate equipment and facilities.

            ▪ Join Healthy Buncombe Community Coalition to work together on the issue of physical health.

Health Care Community

          ▪ Provide more education for families on the issue of obesity.  Raise awareness on the health hazards that go along with it and help families devise a weight reduction plan if needed.

            ▪ Provide support programs for families to give them the tools and education they need to change their lifestyle.

            ▪ Create child and adolescent support groups for youth with various health problems including obesity.

            ▪ Collaborate with community groups to gain awareness of what resources the community needs in order to develop healthier lifestyle choices.

            ▪ Have employee wellness programs that help the staff to be positive examples for patients.