The Tri-State’s recognized leader in cardiac care is turning its attention to the heart of any community – the children.
This fall, St. Mary’s Medical Center has teamed up with former Marshall great and New York Jet Chad Pennington and his “1st and 10 Foundation,” which funds programs seeking to improve the quality of life throughout West Virginia. The goal? To make a difference in the quality of life for children who are overweight, have high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
“We’ve been going into the schools with the H.E.A.R.T. Program for about seven years screening third, fourth and fifth graders for cholesterol, blood pressure and weight,” said Family Nurse Practitioner and H.E.A.R.T. program director Shari Wiley. H.E.A.R.T. stands for Helping Educators Attack Risk Factors Together.
“In the past, we sent the results home to the parents and offered free laboratory work for parents if the children had high cholesterol. If the child had high blood pressure or were overweight we encouraged them to talk with their pediatrician. We decided we wanted – and needed – to do something more.”
That’s when the H.E.A.R.T. program produced a winning idea – H.E.A.R.T. Champions - to help children with all three risk factors adopt a healthier lifestyle. The program offers a guided nutrition education and exercise program supervised by health professionals.
“We screened 600 kids last year and, of those, 26 had all three risk factors – being overweight, having high blood pressure and high cholesterol,” Wiley explained. “We kept identifying all of these kids and realized we needed to go beyond the screening and work with these kids and their families to create a positive change in their lives.”
“We knew we would find some kids with risk factors, but half had at least one risk factor for heart disease, which is the leading cause of death for West Virginians.”
The program, which functions under the watchful eye of a nurse practitioner, pediatrician, dietitian and occupational therapist, invited six at-risk children from last year’s screening to participate in a free 12-week course designed to educate children. H.E.A.R.T. Champions is a fun way to teach kids about healthful eating habits and help them reach a goal of 10,000 steps daily.On Mondays, participants meet at St. Mary’s for an hour of nutrition education, where a new topic related to diet is presented and both parents and kids can discuss any problems they had during the week. When the education portion is complete, students move to the aerobics room in St. Mary’s Wellness Center for 60 minutes of supervised activity, which can include working on the hospital’s treadmills or elliptical trainers. Participants also may play a game designed by the staff and executed by the occupational therapists and exercise physiologists.
On Wednesdays, the pilot group of six students meets at the hospital or, alternatively, Ritter Park for continued fun exercise for an hour. The exercises are designed to keep the children moving and show them that exercise can be fun, too.
When H.E.A.R.T. Champions was developed as a 12-week program, four of the weeks were designated to be parent-child sessions, but Wiley said the parent support has been there since the beginning.
“We didn’t make every session geared toward both parents and kids because everybody is so pushed for time and we were afraid that requiring parent commitment each week might be a deterrent to program participation.” Wiley said. “We were afraid the parents wouldn’t want to make the time commitment, but they’ve shown up with notebook in hand every time. They’ve been taking notes and have been very involved. Maybe it’s the fact these parents have children with all three risk factors that they have taken such an interest, but we’ve been very pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm they’ve shown.”
Susan Keller’s 10-year-old daughter, Ashleigh, was selected as one of the children to help launch the pilot program at the medical center. Keller said she has been thrilled with the program and credits the hospital for calling attention to the health issues of children.
“I was never taught these things as a child and I have suffered with my weight as a result of it,” Keller said. “This experience has been positive for our whole family and has incorporated changes in our cooking, exercising and snacking. It also has probably changed Ashleigh’s life forever. I can’t thank St. Mary’s enough for that.”
When the children are at home, they are requested to keep daily food and exercise logs, which are discussed during each week’s session. The program, Wiley stressed, is not focused only on weight loss.
“We don’t give the kids calorie restrictions, but we do look over their logs with a dietitian to analyze what they can do to eat and live healthier,” she said.
“The camaraderie between the students has been apparent since day one,” Wiley said, “and has grown in the six-plus weeks since the September start.”
“We hoped to form a cohesive group and really help with the kids’ self-esteem as well,” Wiley explained. “Some of these kids might be picked last in gym class or might not fit in with their peers. That’s one of the reasons we selected the name ‘H.E.A.R.T. Champions’ for the program. It’s such a positive atmosphere and experience. One of the little girls even told her mom, ‘I just love going to that because all of those kids are just like me.’”
Another girl expressed an interest in basketball but wasn’t really confident about her ability. Coach Donnie Jones, Marshall University men’s basketball coach, was our keynote speaker during the H.E.A.R.T. Champions orientation. He told the girl he would talk to Coach Royce Chadwick, the women’s coach, about her interest in basketball. Coach Chadwick called her and she was able to attend a Marshall University women’s basketball practice with the players. That was a huge boost to her self-esteem, and now she is exploring playing in a basketball league.
Just this past week, the students were assessed at a six-week check-up, as they will be at the 12-week mark. Overall, all children had seen weight loss, improved fitness levels and lowered blood pressure and cholesterol.
“Ashleigh is running longer and not having to use her inhaler,” Keller said. “Her blood pressure has dropped from borderline and her cholesterol has come down 10 points.”
“My goal is to see the program continue and expand to help as many kids as possible to overcome these risk factors,” Wiley said. “I don’t want to present this to them just one time and forget about them. I want them to adopt this and make the lifestyle changes that can prevent heart attacks or gastric bypass in their 20s or 30s and beyond. We need to reach out to kids while they are still impressionable, curious and interested in their health. Hopefully, as a result, we see not just an immediate impact, but also success years down the road.”
For more information about the H.E.A.R.T. Champions program at St. Mary’s, call 304-526-8339 or 304-526-8338.
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