Hawaii Youth Invited to Join Movement to Fight Childhood Obesity

HONOLULU – Youth Service America and UnitedHealthcare are once again giving children and youth across Hawaii the opportunity to become “Health Heroes” by learning about childhood obesity, designing programs to address it and implementing the programs in their communities.

Schools and youth-focused, community-based organizations can now apply for the 2012 UnitedHealth HEROES grants. Applications are available at www.YSA.org/HEROES and must be submitted online before midnight, Oct. 17, 2011. Grant recipients will be notified in December and January.

Grants of up to $1,000 each will be awarded to programs that demonstrate a clear understanding of the health risks associated with childhood obesity; propose creative solutions to fighting obesity in their schools and communities; and can be easily implemented, scaled and measured. In addition, each grant also engages participating youth in service learning, an effective teaching and learning strategy that supports student academic achievement and helps students develop their workplace readiness skills.

During the previous grant cycle, UnitedHealthcare awarded grants to three Hawaii-based, youth-led organizations:

• The After-School All-Stars Hawaii at Jarrett Middle School planned and produced a healthy cooking show and lesson plan;
• Ka‘a‘awa Elementary School taught students and parents about the value and importance of developing healthy eating and lifestyle habits;
• And the “Teen Challenge” project by Making Dreams Come True, Valley of the Rainbows in Wai‘anae provided youth with health assessments, including the monitoring of weight and blood pressure.

In Hawaii, about 28.5 percent of children ages 10 to 17 are considered overweight or obese. Nationwide, one in three children is obese or overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If left unchecked or untreated, obesity will affect 43 percent of adults by 2018, according to the 2009 America’s Health Rankings™, and will add nearly $344 billion in that year alone to the nation’s annual direct health care costs, accounting for more than 21 percent of health care spending. Obesity is connected to a variety of chronic conditions, including diabetes and heart disease.

“With the UnitedHealth HEROES program, we are helping young people take action to improve their overall health and quality of life in a way that’s not only educational, but beneficial for their communities. We believe that as people become more aware of health issues through health literacy and advocacy initiatives they will make positive changes to live better lives,” said David Heywood, vice president, UnitedHealthcare of Hawaii. “We look forward to seeing the creative ideas young people come up with to help fight obesity and encourage healthier living.”

“Childhood obesity is a growing problem in America and links to long-term health issues, which can be alleviated by drawing awareness of and starting healthy habits at a young age,” said Steve Culbertson, president and CEO of Youth Service America. “Youth Service America is proud to partner with UnitedHealthcare and mobilize children and youth to create, implement and solve childhood obesity.”

Research by Denver-based RMC Research Corp. has shown that young people who participate in service-learning programs improve their academic performance and critical-thinking skills, increase their confidence and sense of potential, and accept leadership roles.

This is the fourth year of the UnitedHealth HEROES program. To date, UnitedHealthcare has awarded nearly 700 HEROES grants to schools and community organizations across the country. Earlier this year, more than 20,000 children and youth logged volunteer hours serving more of their communities to help reduce childhood obesity. A list of previous grant winners is available at www.YSA.org.

The website also contains information about the program and “First Responders: Youth Addressing Childhood Obesity Through Service-Learning,” a step-by-step manual that helps youth, parents, teachers and other volunteers deploy YSA service-learning models to fight childhood obesity.

UnitedHealth HEROES grant recipients will have the opportunity to showcase their projects on YSA’s 24th Annual Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) from April 20-22, 2012. GYSD provides an opportunity for students to include their projects in a larger, global youth service movement that seeks to improve communities in all 50 states and more than 100 countries.

Locally, UnitedHealthcare operates one of the largest Medicare Advantage plans in Hawaii, along with serving 20,000 Medicaid beneficiaries. UnitedHealthcare has nearly 150 employees located across the four major islands.

About Youth Service America

Youth Service America (YSA) improves communities by increasing the number and the diversity of young people, ages 5-25, serving in substantive roles. Founded in 1986, YSA supports a global culture of engaged youth committed to a lifetime of service, learning, leadership and achievement. The impact of YSA’s work through service and service-learning is measured in student achievement, workplace readiness and healthy communities. For more information, visit www.YSA.org.

About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. UnitedHealthcare serves more than 38 million people and contracts directly with more than 650,000 physicians and care professionals and 5,000 hospitals nationwide.

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