More Than 1,000 Citizens Convene in Memphis for the Nation’s First Ever Town Meeting to Address the Growing Epidemic of Childhood Overweight and Inactivity

PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ — Shaping America’s Youth convened more than 1,000 citizens in Memphis, Tennessee, for the nation’s first-ever town meeting to identify what all sectors of the community can do to improve physical activity and nutrition among children. The meeting was convened by Shaping America’s Youth(R) (SAY), a first-of-its-kind public-private initiative created to bring together the efforts of many groups and programs working to create healthier lifestyles for children. SAY(R) is an initiative of Shaping America’s Health: Association for Weight Management and Obesity Prevention.

The massive grassroots summit is the first in a series of interactive, high-tech meetings which will be held around the country to develop a National Action Plan for reversing the growing epidemic. The next SAY Town Meeting will be held in Dallas, Texas, later this spring.

“We truly believe that this serious health crisis is going to be solved at the community and family level — not by looking for government mandates an arm’s length from the root cause and not by litigation,” said David McCarron, MD, FACP, and executive director of Shaping America’s Youth. “We already know that childhood patterns of poor nutrition and physical inactivity are primarily a social and behavioral issue. The 1,000-plus folks who showed up on a Saturday morning to voice their concerns about this crisis got it right: we need to change our routines, we need to educate ourselves on how to eat better and exercise more, and we need to take responsibility for our children’s health. Shaping America’s Youth is going to continue to talk to — most importantly, listen to — the people who will be critical to solving this issue: children, parents, and families.”

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen and Kenneth S. Robinson, M.D., Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health, joined Assistant U.S. Surgeon General Woodie Kessel, M.D., Deputy Director for Medical and Health Science, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other health officials to hear the broad-based concerns and ideas of the community.

“Teaching our children healthy habits such as regular activity and good nutrition is the key to stemming health care problems associated with obesity in adulthood,” said Senator Bill Frist, who addressed the group via video tape and is a co-sponsor of the Childhood Obesity Reduction Act.

SAY seeks to identify community programs and solicit grassroots input in order to find effective ways within families and across communities to promote childhood exercise and healthy eating. Later this year recommendations from all of the SAY(R) Town Meetings will be presented to the President and Congress, governmental agencies, professional organizations and non-profits as a proposal for a National Action Plan to reduce the prevalence of childhood overweight. The National Action Plan is expected to become a long-term road map for changing public policy and providing best practices for addressing childhood obesity.

“There has been a lot of excellent reporting about the serious health and fitness issues facing our nation’s children who, for the first time in a generation, may not live as long as their parents,” said McCarron. “There are a lot of great efforts and programs going on out there. Our goal is to find the best ones — through a conversation with American citizens — that will lead to real, effective long-term behavioral and public policy change.”

How Did the Meeting Work?

SAY utilized the 21st Century Town Meeting(R) format, a remarkably effective real-time process to generate information and ideas developed by AmericaSpeaks, a non-profit, non-partisan organization. To increase participation and input, participants were divided into tables of 10 individuals of all age groups and backgrounds. A trained facilitator worked with each small group to ensure each person had an opportunity to share their opinion. Using real-time keypad polling devices, the participants reviewed and prioritized these ideas in order to develop a clear plan for action. The results from the polls were reported instantly to the group via large video screens. Polling was used both to gather demographic information and to give participants the opportunity to prioritize solutions.

Much of the discussion and problem-solving focused on what families can do at home like planning meals and eating healthier, working out together, or just turning off the TV, but participants also turned their attention to the other members of the community with a stake in improving children’s health.

“While families play a central role in impacting a child’s behavior, they are also strongly impacted by the social and cultural context around them,” observed McCarron. Participants were asked to identify specific ways that these stakeholder groups could support families in the priority actions identified earlier in the day.

Following are recommended actions, in order of priority, for each of the stakeholders:

   Educators/Schools   — Require physical activity and health classes in schools   — Increase funding for health education & physical activity, and reduce      family costs for activities   — Nutrition education for parents, students, and teachers    Community Leaders/Service Providers   — Use community centers for nutrition education and physical activity   — Churches should play an active role in educating and providing healthy      food and activities   — Create more parks & paths for walking and biking    Legislators/Policy Makers   — Increase and mandate physical education, home economics, and health      classes in schools (there was overwhelming support for this priority)    Healthcare Community   — Increase emphasis on healthy diet and exercise by educating every      person about their main health risks and help patients set personal      health improvement goals   — Expand and promote incentive programs for healthy living by insurers,      employers, and government   — Increase health promotion, including BMI and fitness programs, with      more nurses and dietitians in schools    Business/Private Sector   — Provide preventive health benefits and policies for employees (e.g.,      policies, incentives, exercise options, training, flex time)   — Support organizations that promote good health (e.g., donations, public      service advertising, school and neighborhood programs)    National Actions  

Recognizing that local and regional efforts to promote change will benefit from commitment on a national level, participants considered what actions might be taken by national leaders and institutions to help improve nutrition and increase activity among children. Among several, the following actions were identified and ranked in order of their potential impact:

   — Educators should collaborate with corporations and federal agencies to      fund national initiatives for healthy lifestyles and after school      programs (35%)   — Support federal funding for physical education and President’s physical      fitness program (18%)   — Media campaigns to promote good nutrition and exercise (10%)   — National insurance carriers should take actions to promote and support      good nutrition and preventive health (10%)   

“This public health challenge will only be overcome if every sector of the community works together and does what’s necessary to promote healthy eating and an active lifestyle for our children,” said McCarron. “The impressive community turn-out and enthusiasm at our first town meeting in Memphis is testament that our communities are ready to roll up their sleeves.”

SAY, now the first national program of the newly chartered, Shaping America’s Health: Association for Weight Management and Obesity Prevention, is a public-private partnership which includes the Department of Health and Human Services, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and founding corporate partners Campbell Soup Company, McNeil Nutritionals LLC, a Johnson & Johnson company, and NIKE, Inc. Additional corporate partners include Cadbury Schweppes, FedEx Corporation and CIGNA.

About Shaping America’s Youth

Shaping America’s Youth, is an initiative of Shaping America’s Health: Association for Weight Management and Obesity Prevention, an organization that seeks to prevent excess weight and obesity and facilitate scientific understanding of weight management. For more information about the association, visit http://www.obesityprevention.org/ or call (703) 253-4808. SAY was initially launched in November 2003 in coordination with the office of the Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The American Academy of Pediatrics, Academic Network, and the Nutrition Department of the University of California at Davis. Corporate partners include: NIKE, McNeil Nutritionals, a Johnson & Johnson company, Campbell Soup Company, FedEx Corporation, Cadbury Schweppes and CIGNA. For more information about SAY, go to http://www.shapingamericasyouth.org/.

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