CAP program teaches families
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PABLO — Kids and their parents were jumping rope, playing native games, rolling the dice in a fitness game, as well as learning about how much sugar was in their favorite sodas and sports drinks and getting weighed and measured. All these activities took place at a Communities at Play family fun night at the Joe McDonald Health and Fitness on June 24.
The CAP program, funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Child Health and Development, brought together the University of Montana, Salish Kootenai College and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Health and Human Services. The goal is to address childhood obesity on the Flathead Indian Reservation, make the communities aware and plan a process to prevent obesity among native and non-native children on the Flathead Reservation.
“Parents say, ‘My kid is a little bit overweight, but it’s no big deal,’” said Mike Tryon, one of the program’s directors. “But it will be as they get older.”
Tryon and Paul Phillips just finished interviewing leaders in Pablo about the town’s children — a housing person, someone who works in social services; a school official, a nurse, a school counselor and a community member.
“Even these guys didn’t think it was a big concern,” Tryon said.
But in Pablo, the numbers indicate three out of 10 kids are obese.
Phillips and Tryon head up the summer program for kids called “Making Fitness Fun.”
With transportation, breakfast and lunch, plus a full slate of activities such as kickball, football, shinny, basketball, volleyball, bike riding and more, kids are kept active and busy.
That’s a good start. The duo also works with adults and introduces them to working out, but often they quit.
“How do we keep them going?” Tryon asked.
Tryon said kids and people want to change, be more active and eat better.
They held fun night to get families educated and learning together.
Ashley Lozeau, Tony Lozeau and Guss Makes Cold Water were interested to learn how much sugar is in a sports drink as compared to a soda or water. They were accompanied by their mother, who was surprised by the amount of sugar.
Next Philips and Tryon will head to Hot Springs to interview community leaders there about childhood obesity.
People want to change their appearance, but sometimes riding bikes, walking or swimming will positively affect a person’s heart more quickly than change will show on the outside.
“You want to be able to do things — can you hike, ride a bike, go for walks?” Tryon asked.
“We’re kind of at the beginning,” he said. Now that they’ve worked with the Pablo community they will get feedback to determine if people learned anything or not.
Phillips and Tryon think this study paves the way for a big grant to create programs to help change the obesity problem.
“It will be interesting to see how well other communities score,” Tryon said.
For more information, go to: http://research.blog.umt.educ/post/98727568288/tribal-health-joins-forces-the-um-skc-and-uw-to.
