YOUTH WORKERS BEGIN FIGHTING OBESITY BATTLE ON LOCAL SCALE.(LOCAL) - The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)

Byline: ELIZABETH SIMPSON THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

JAMES CITY COUNTY -- On the heels of a national summit on obesity last week in Williamsburg, regional health advocates gathered Wednesday to hammer out ideas about how to tackle the issue in a more specific population:

The children of Hampton Roads.

Teachers, doctors, school nurses, dietitians and youth group directors met at the James City/Williamsburg Community Center to brainstorm ways to address the issue of overweight children.

Fifteen percent of American children between the ages of 5 and 19 are overweight, triple the percentage of 20 years ago, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But there i s only scattered and incomplete information about how the children of Hampton Roads are doing.

That helped form some of the goals of the local group: to find out just how the region's children compare with the national trend, and to identify what needs are particular to this area.

While doctors and nurses said the evidence is clear that children in Hampton Roads are riding the same trend, more concrete data would help health advocates better address the problem.

One participant in Wednesday's summit, the Peninsula Coalition for Obesity Prevention, has spent the past several months collecting height and weight data from 18,000 schoolchildren in Peninsula schools. The coalition is still crunching the numbers, but it hopes to release a report within a few months.

That could be a model for how other communities can gather similar information. The schools are likely to be valuable partners in any effort.

Summit participants also believe the various coalitions need to find ways to share ideas of what they are doing, what is working and what isn't. That way, tried-and-true projects can be duplicated across the region.

Dr. Lawrence Pasquinelli, a Norfolk pediatrician who directs a weight-management program for children at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk, said an important aspect of any of the programs is to make sure there's a way to measure and evaluate them.

He said the children in the Healthy You weight-management program at CHKD are tracked by their weight, height, hip and waist measures during the duration of the seven-week class.Following the children after they leave the program, however, is a bigger challenge.

The Consortium for Infant and Child Health, a coalition of Hampton Roads health advocates, organized Wednesday's summit and hopes to focus the various groups on making changes in systems, such as schools, neighborhoods, youth groups and health-care organizations.

The consortium, for instance, is working on a 'Healthy Kids Kit' that will include information for presentations, fitness programs, lists of the best Web sites about childhood obesity. Those kits, based on a 'train the trainer' model, will be distributed to people who can educate large groups of people.

The need to change environments also is important. One project featured at the summit was organized by the Norfolk Health Department, in which officials focused on Oakmont North, a community in Norview. The health workers met with people in the community to ask what would help them live healthier lifestyles.

They identified a walking trail, already located within the community, and put up signs encouraging people to use it. They also met with civic groups to encourage more physical activity.

But the need for individual advocacy will play a role as well. Cyndi Fisher, a nurse practitioner in the consortium, said it can be as simple as asking why your child's soccer team must hand out fatty snacks at practices and throw pizza parties to celebrate the end of the season. She urged parents to press for healthy snacks and non-food celebrations, such as bowling parties .

Fisher said it's important to capitalize on the enthusiasm and passion of committed people, because community health efforts tend to be underfunded.

'If you don't have money, you have to have passion.'

- Reach Elizabeth Simpson at 446-2635 or elizabeth.simpson pilotonline.com.

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Fifteen percent of American children between the ages of 5 and 19 are overweight, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.