Stuart M. Kilpinen, Aetna Network Vice President; William S. Wood, MD, MBA, Medical Director, Aetna-Southeast Region with USF Health Pediatrics’ Lynn Ringenberg, MD, Medical Director, USF Pediatric Mobile Health Program/Ronald McDonald Care Mobile.

Aetna Foundation Awards USF Health Pediatrics in Effort to Help Battle Childhood Obesity

On July 31, the Aetna Foundation and USF experts in pediatrics took an important step in strengthening community efforts against childhood obesity. The Aetna Foundation presented a $25,000 donation to the USF Pediatric Mobile Health Program/Ronald McDonald Care Mobile. The funding will benefit the Obesity Action Screening Intervention Support Program (OASIS), which was developed by specialists in the mobile health team and the USF Healthy Weight Clinic. OASIS provides needed health care access, treatment and follow-up care to children and teens who are medically overweight. Program results show that children, teens and families fully engaged in OASIS see marked improvements in their weight and are more likely to have lasting, positive lifestyle changes that contribute to better health.

“Children make up 33% of the current population, but they’re 100% of the future, so it’s everyone’s job to keep them healthy!” says Lynn Ringenberg, MD, Medical Director, USF Health Pediatric Mobile Health Program/Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, “…Making Life Better through access to care, health education and compassion.”

July 31, 2008. Leaders with the Aetna Foundation tour USF Health Pediatrics’ Ronald McDonald Care Mobile.

More on the USF Pediatric Mobile Health Program…
The USF Pediatric Mobile Health Program provides health care and education to students in fifty-nine Title I schools in Hillsborough and Pasco counties. These are schools where the majority of its students receive free or reduced lunches. Hilllsborough County is the 8th largest school district in the United States. The target audience for the USF Pediatric Mobile Health program is uninsured, undocumented or underinsured, primarily minority, children and teens with limited access to health care.

The prevalence of overweight and obese children and adolescents in the United States has increased dramatically over the past few decades. In 2003-2004, 33.6% of the children between the ages of 2 and 19 years had Body Mass Indexes (BMIs) greater than 85% (at risk for overweight/overweight) and 17.1% had BMIs greater than 95% (overweight/obese). Over the past three decades, obesity rates have doubled in children aged 2-5 years and adolescents aged 12-19 years and more than tripled in children aged 6-11 years.

The team of experts in the mobile health program, in collaboration with the USF Healthy Weight Clinic, has developed the Obesity Action Screening Intervention Support (OASIS) Program, which targets underserved and marginalized “overweight/at risk” children or teens whose BMI is greater than 85%. These children/teens are the most difficult to manage and the most “at risk” to develop serious problems such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, behavioral disorders, poor school performance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. As advocates for children’s health issues, we believe that active medical intervention is the key ingredient missing in many of the local obesity education initiatives.

Through this generous $25,000 donation from the Aetna Foundation, the USF Pediatric Mobile Health Program/Ronald McDonald Care Mobile will provide needed health care access, treatment and follow-up care to children and teens with elevated weight/BMI.