FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                          MEDIA - FOR MORE INFORMATION:

July 2003                                                          Deborah Perry              Phone   (361) 694-5662

                                                                                                            Pager   (361) 548-6073

PROGRAM EDUCATES OVERWEIGHT KIDS AGES 9 – 14

ABOUT HEALTHY LIFESTYLES

Driscoll Children’s Hospital’s “Weigh to Go!” Program

For children ages 9 - 14

 Tuesdays; October 7 – November 11, 2003; 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Driscoll Children’s Hospital l Corpus Christi, TX

$25 (6 week sessions)

Pre-registration is required l Call (361) 694-4574 for more information

(Corpus Christi, TX)  Statistics show that one in four children in Nueces County is overweight over the 90^th percentile weight for length, and at risk for other health related issues including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.  In an effort to change this startling trend, Driscoll Children’s Hospital along with its Food and Nutrition Department and Diabetes and Endocrine Program created, Weigh To Go!, a weight management program for older children ages 9 to 14.

Weigh To Go! is a six-week program designed to educate above-average weight children and their families about healthy nutrition and lifestyles.  Through fun and interactive classes, children will focus on developing good eating habits and increasing fitness levels and an understanding of the relationship between fitness and the body that will help increase self-esteem and create a more positive body image.

Each two-hour session, children will participate in a cooking lesson, nutritional education, and exercise.  In addition, one class will be spent visiting the YWCA for additional fitness and exercise lessons.  Short homework assignments are given each week, including a food and exercise diary so that they can practice their healthy habits daily.

Topics to be discussed include:

¨       Using the Food Guide Pyramid

¨       Energy Balance

¨       Exercise and Fitness

¨       Healthy Snacks and Meals

¨       Cooking Demonstrations

¨       Label Reading

¨       Meal Planning/Restaurant Choices

Cost of the 6-week course is $25.  Parent are encouraged to attend each and every session.  Participants will also have the opportunity to acquire free passes to the YWCA through an earned point system.

About Driscoll Children’s Hospital...

“Improve the health of adults and you give them back their health…

Improve the health of children and you give them their life.”

Happy 50^th birthday!  Since opening its doors in 1953, Driscoll Children’s Hospital has been offering hope and healing to the children of South Texas for half a century.  The facility is a 200-bed pediatric tertiary care center with pediatric board-certified specialists representing 19 medical and nine surgical specialties.  The facility’s referral area spans 31,000 square miles, making it larger than the state of South Carolina, and offers care to children throughout the Coastal Bend and Rio Grande Valley.  Each year, more than 6,000 children are admitted for inpatient care, 5,000 for day surgery and 50,000 for outpatient primary and specialty care.  The first South Texas hospital with emergency services exclusively for children, Driscoll provides emergency care to more than 40,000 children per year.  Additionally, Driscoll maintains a state-of-the-art ground/air transport team, 20-bed pediatric intensive care unit and 40-bed neonatal intensive care unit, renowned pediatric intensive care program, specialized medical outreach to the children of South Texas.

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