In harmony with Michelle Obama’s national campaign against childhood obesity, grants totaling more than $720,000 have been awarded by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and the Aetna Foundation, Inc. to fund two obesity awareness and prevention programs at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. The programs and grant highlights are as follows:
- The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving grant — which totals $427,650 over three years — will provide core support for the work of the Hartford Childhood Obesity Coalition, a 31-member group of medical, academic, government and community representatives based at Connecticut Children’s.
- The Aetna Foundation grant – which totals $299,353 over three years – will support a pilot program to increase communication between pediatricians and parents and their children about the dangers of obesity. The program, “Helping Children Grow Up Healthy, The Role of the Pediatrician in Obesity Prevention,” will be conducted at two community health clinics in Hartford.
To learn more on Connecticut Children's and The Aetna Foundation's team up to combat childhood obesity, please click here.
“With first lady Michelle Obama launching a national campaign against childhood obesity, the generous support provided by both of these organizations could not have come at a better time,” said Dr. Michelle Cloutier, who is the principal investigator and team leader for the two obesity prevention projects.
America’s obesity rate has dramatically increased over the past 30 years and is the single greatest health threat to the current generation of children, said Dr. Cloutier. “Obese children become obese adults who have higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure and reduced life span. It’s also been estimated that America’s children will have a shorter lifespan than their parents due to the effects of obesity.”
Hartford Foundation for Public Giving Grant
One goal of the Hartford Foundation’s grant in support of the Hartford Childhood Obesity Coalition will be to establish a school-based system for documenting body mass index in Hartford’s children and reporting those results to parents. Other initiatives of the Coalition include creating culturally-sensitive messaging around healthy living in children, and creating a parent advisory committee that will develop strategies to not only address obesity in children but to function as a resource for further studies in Hartford.
“The Hartford Foundation is pleased to support the Hartford Childhood Obesity Coalition in this innovative, multifaceted approach to reducing the risk factors associated with childhood obesity,” said Linda J. Kelly, president of the Hartford Foundation.
During the past year, with support from the Hartford Foundation, coalition members have worked with regional and national obesity prevention experts to identify local resources and gaps, and plan research-based projects that will help curb Hartford’s childhood obesity epidemic.
The Hartford Foundation has also supported Connecticut Children’s since its opening in 1996 with several initiatives focusing on healthy childhood development as part of its Brighter Futures Initiative, a 20-year, $25 million effort to increase the school readiness and school success of Hartford’s children.
The Aetna Foundation Grant
The grant from the Aetna Foundation will support “Helping Children Grow Up Healthy, The Role of the Pediatrician in Obesity Prevention.” The pilot program will increase communication between pediatricians and parents and their children about the dangers of obesity. This project also will be led by Dr. Cloutier, and Dr. Amy Gorin of the Center for Health Intervention and Prevention at the University of Connecticut.
“While pediatricians see young children in their offices two to ten times per year, few pediatricians discuss obesity with the child’s parents, despite weighing and measuring the child at each visit,” Dr. Cloutier said. “In this project we will enhance the confidence of the pediatrician and the nurse to counsel families around specific behaviors that could lead to obesity.” The project will measure the effectiveness of brief motivational counseling in the prevention of obesity in young children, primarily those between the ages of 2 and 4.
“This grant reflects our commitment to the health and well-being of children, and is consistent with one of the Aetna Foundations top focus areas – the prevention of obesity, particularly among children,” said Anne C. Beal, M.D., MPH, president of the Aetna Foundation. “Connecticut Children’s is taking some innovative steps to support local caregivers as they educate and motivate families, and hopefully change behaviors around eating and activity in an effort to combat this national epidemic. We hope this project will produce guidelines for effective clinical interventions that can be used by physicians across the US for preventing childhood obesity.”
In addition to supporting these obesity-prevention initiatives, the Aetna Foundation has supported Connecticut Children’s over the past 14 years with the funding of the Aetna Child Health Data Center, funding to support the work of the Easy Breathing Asthma Program, and numerous holiday and special activities for the medical center’s patients and families.