McMillen Center Announces Online 'Active Healthy Families' Program
Posted
Staff Report-
The McMillen Center for Health Education announces a new online program for families, funded by the K21 Health Foundation.
Active Healthy Families was developed to assist in the fight against childhood obesity by providing nutrition education both parents and home childcare providers can view online in their homes.
The program offers six locally developed video education modules, each a half hour in length, which can be accessed through the McMillen Center website, www.mcmillencenter.org
The videos feature McMillen Center educators presenting nutrition information in an informal and fun manner, using real food, and relevant situations.
An additional component to this program is an Active Healthy Families Childcare Certificate which home childcare providers can earn by viewing the six videos, passing post-tests, and agreeing to adhere to a policy outlining nutritional and fitness goals for the children in their care.
For those without home internet access, the sessions will be widely available on DVD at Kosciusko County libraries, doctor's offices, and non-profit agencies.
Holli Seabury, McMillen Center CEO states, "Active Healthy Families was developed because we see parents who want to feed their children healthy meals and make healthy choices, they just don't know how. We saw a need for online nutrition education that was fun to watch and easy for parents and childcare providers to understand. We were thrilled when the K21 Health Foundation provided the initial funding to develop this program. We want to give families the tools to make healthy choices."
One-third of children in Indiana are obese and overweight and face health issues such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and a shortened life span.
However, simple choices in the foods served to children can make a real difference in a child's health status. The videos emphasize simple changes like not serving children pop and reducing the number of fast food meals eaten.
"K21 saw an opportunity to provide an important health education opportunity for parents and childcare providers in Kosciusko County that will greatly benefit our community by helping to address the issue of childhood obesity. Families are busier than ever these days and all too often, dinner comes from a fast food drive-thru. Among other things, Active Health Families teaches parents how to offer quick, nutritious meals and snacks to their kids when time for dinner preparation is limited," said K21 President Rich Haddad.
