Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital Receives $150,000 Grant to Implement Rural FitKids Program

Program to begin August 1, 2012

On Thursday, May 3, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the distribution of more than $10.4 million dollars in grant funds to rural health providers across the nation for providing direct health care services to their communities. Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital is one of three Spectrum Health hospitals that have been selected to receive approximately $450,000 of these grant funds to implement Rural FitKids in Osceola, Montcalm and Newaygo counties.

Grant funds will be provided over the course of three years, beginning August 2012. Funding is distributed through HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the primary federal agency for improving health care access for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable. The project is supported by Grant Award Number 1 D04RH23621-01-00 from the Health Resources and Services Administration.

The Rural FitKids is a healthy lifestyle program developed to address childhood obesity. The comprehensive program combines basic education about nutrition, behavior and exercise with a wide range of physical activities. The goal is to provide an effective solution for overweight children who have been unable to make positive changes on their own.

Designed for kids and their families, Rural FitKids consists of a 12-week after school course and a 4-week follow-up course. Additionally, the program features in-home visits by a Community Health Worker to support teachings in the home and with the student’s family.

Spectrum Health United Hospital’s United Lifestyles will direct and oversee the program, which will launch in three rural school communities: Greenville Public Schools, Hesperia Community Schools and Reed City Area Public Schools. Spectrum Health Reed City and Spectrum Health Gerber Memorial Hospital provide local staffing for their respective school. Staff roles such as site coordinators, registered dietitians, exercise instructors and community health workers will work onsite at each of the three school districts to implement the program.

United Lifestyles’ Executive Director, Jodie Faber, spearheaded the process to apply for grant funds and developed the Rural FitKids program based on FitKids 360, a Grand Rapids based First Steps childhood obesity program. “Childhood obesity is on the rise across our nation, including in rural communities here in Michigan. It has been reported that Montcalm, Newaygo and Osceola counties currently have adolescent obesity rates above the average rates in Michigan. Data also demonstrates that the nutrition habits of kids in these counties lag behind their peers across the states”, said Faber.

“Rural FitKids is an opportunity to teach kids in rural school districts the meaning of health, how to become healthy and stay healthy. The program works in tandem with their parents or guardians with the intention of making long-term changes within the home.”

Rural FitKids will be offered to children ages 5 to 16 and their parents or support partners. Qualifying children must have a Body Mass Index (BMI) at the 85th percentile or higher and have written referral from a health care provider. Kim Lombard, MS, RD, CDE is a registered dietician and the site coordinator for Reed City Hospital and would like to hear from parents and caregivers that are interested in the program. “We’d like to see as many as 40 students and their families successfully complete this program in the 2012/2013 school year said Lombard. “If you feel your child may qualify, please contact me at 231.832.4812.”

“We feel honored to have been selected to receive funds from HHS,” said Lombard. “Because of these funds and the commitment of Spectrum Health, we will have the opportunity to work with kids to better their health and lead longer, healthier lives.”

About Spectrum Health
Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of nine hospitals including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, a state of the art children’s hospital that opened in January 2011, and 190 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and West Michigan Heart, physician groups totaling more than 600 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with 625,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer with more than 18,000 employees. The organization provided $176.5 million in community benefit during its 2011 fiscal year.