Arlee community invited to design youth fitness program
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There is a war waging across the United States in large cities and small communities like Arlee. It is a fight that involves the old but could be prevented with the young.
Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the last 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It has contributed to the increased risk of many types of cancers, heart disease, strokes and type 2 diabetes. Studies show that children and adolescents who are obese are likely to be obese as adults and more at risk for heath problems as adults. More and more children are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a disease that was usually diagnosed in adults 40 years or older.
It is a battle Vernon Grant plans to dedicate his life to preventing, but he needs the help of the Arlee community first.
Grant, 30, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet tribe, along with the support of Tribal Health and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council, plan to design and implement an intervention project for children in fourth, fifth and sixth grade at Arlee elementary. The overall scope of the project is to prevent obesity and the development of type 2 diabetes.
A community meeting is to take place May 16 at the Arlee Fitness Center at 5:30 p.m. At the meeting, parents, community members and children will break into talking circles to come up with ideas on what types of fitness activities they would like to see created. Participants will receive incentives for their input. Students will have a choice of a basketball or basketball bag, and adults could receive $20.
“If anything, I would like to stress community involvement,” Grant said. “All I do is take their information, and I’ll design something based on that and then present it back to the community … until they see it’s fit for their school and community. I’m just an instrument; it has to be approved by the community.”
Vernon is a 2014 Ph.D. candidate in interdisciplinary exercise science and community health at the University of Montana. He also holds a Masters degree from the University of Montana in exercise science.
Grant started his education with an interest in training high-level athletes, but as he progressed in his studies, his desire shifted to helping Indian reservations and especially youth.
He said he only had to look at his hometown of Browning to see the effects obesity and diabetes has had on his family members and friends.
“I just started to see that there was a great need in that area,” Grant said. “The main people involved in that fight were white, which is good, but there’s not a lot of Indian people in that battle. I have dedicated the rest of my career for that battle.”
“I don’t know of any other program like this around,” said tribal health educator Margene Asay. “It’s going to be a good thing for the Arlee community, with a good ripple effect to St. Ignatius, Dixon and Ronan.”
Tribal Health will assist Grant in implementing the program once it is created.
“This is your community and your kids, what do you want?” Asay said.
“I will use their knowledge of their own community to get kids more active during school, but it has to be from their perspective and not mine … it’s not my project, it’s theirs,” Grant added.
Fourth, fifth and sixth graders are targeted because Grant said this is the age that they start to develop life habits.
“If we instill healthy behaviors, the hope is they will carry them on into the future,” Grant said.
The program is funded by monies obtained by Grant through MT INBRE, a collaborative network of Ph.D. granting institutions, baccalaureate schools and tribal colleges. One of the goals of MT INBRE is to increase the number of environmental health investigators at universities and four-year colleges. The project is part of Grant’s doctoral work and dissertation he will present to his committee. But he said all the data will belong to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and all information is confidential. Nothing will be published without the approval of the CSKT Tribal Council.
“We’re very excited about it because (the project), addresses a fundamental health issue that all communities in America have to deal with,” said Kevin Howlett, department head for Health and Human Services. “We have an obesity problem, and it’s not just in Indian communities. It takes an entire family and community to make the change. It’s a collaboration that will pay results down the road.”
“It will work; it will work,” Asay said, adding that Grant’s desire to obtain a Ph.D. serves as an good example as well. “That alone is just a role model for our kids.”
