YRMC accepting applications for its Healthy Kids Program
With obesity rates on the rise, Yuma Regional Medical Center continues to offer its Healthy Kids Program to encourage youth to become active and teach the principles of a healthy lifestyle.
The Centers for Disease Control shows that obesity now affects one in six children and adolescents in the United States.
“It’s really important to teach children the importance of a healthy diet and exercise to prevent future disease such as diabetes, sleep apnea, depression (and) high blood pressure,” said YRMC Wellness Associate Dulce Castillo in a phone interview. “It’s very important to start teaching them young and then hopefully this can almost cause a ripple effect with the families. While we educate the parents and educate the children who are participating, hopefully they are teaching their siblings and hopefully the parents are teaching the rest of family on why this is important.”
Open to kids ages 8 to 12, the program spans over six weeks and is limited to twenty children as well as their parents or guardians. Healthy Kids aims to teach children how to make healthier food choices at home, at the grocery store as well as when they eat out.
Additionally, youth will learn how to cook healthy meals. A couple of the activities offered during the program include kickboxing and a cooking class.
For the duration of the program, children will also learn how to improve their self-esteem, understand their emotions and become more physically active.
Castillo said some of the simple changes she has seen children undergo by the end of the program are being open to trying different foods, becoming more comfortable in their own skin and thus “breaking out of their shell a little bit.”
Participants of the program are also provided with binders filled with recipes, Castillo said, in order for parents to prepare meals with their families.
“We really encourage them to go home and cook with the kids and teach the kids how fun it can be to cook healthy meals,” Castillo noted. “That way, the kids enjoy eating it afterward.”
Children and parents will get an opportunity during the program to meet with YRMC dietitians, family doctors, behaviorists and local chef Alex Trujillo.
Participants will also get a chance to meet with the City of Yuma Parks and Recreation Department to learn about free resources as well as a trainer at the YMCA who instructs a Zumba class and can provide information on exercise machine safety.
According to Castillo, the YRMC Healthy Kids Program initially began in 2013.
“It started off as a 12week program, but it’s been evolving throughout the years,” Castillo said. “We are now officially down to six programs. We were able to kind of mesh in together some of the topics that we talked about and we just made it a little bit less of a commitment to the families because we found that that was a little bit of an issue — 12 weeks is a long time.”
Since the program has been offered, Castillo added that it has reached roughly 250 children, not counting parents and guardians.
“It’s really important to us to have the parents there as well,” Castillo said. “They are actually a huge part of the program since they are the decision-makers at the end of the day. They are the ones that do the grocery shopping. It’s really important for us to educate the parents as well as to why healthy eating and exercise is important.”
Classes for the Healthy Kids Program begin on September 12 and end October 17. Each session will be held from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in various locations on weekday evenings.
For more information on YRMC’s Healthy Kids Program, call 928-336-7958 or email yrmcwellness@yumaregional.org.
More information as well as the Family Enrollment Form can be found at www. yumaregional.org/ForThe-Community/Community-Wellness-Resources/ Healthy-Kids.