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Nemours data shows increase in healthy activities for First State kids

Nemours

 

A new look at the state of kids’ health in the First State is now available.

Nemours Children’s Health System released its 2014 Delaware Survey of Children’s Health – known as DSCH - Thursday.

Nemours Health and Prevention Services vice president Mary Kate Mouser says over 2,600 Delaware households completed the most recent DSCH survey.

 

She says the results indicate the number of kids ages 2-17 either overweight or obese is declining slightly in the First State – but adds the 3 percentage point difference between the 2011 and 2014 reports, falling 39 to 36 percent – aren’t significant enough to be considered a downward trend.

 

But she says healthy behaviors – like avoiding sweetened drinks and increasing physical activity – are trending in the right direction.

 

Nemours has taken steps to help encourage those healthy behaviors by starting a summer farmer's market outside of its Jessup St. office. Mouser says they also offered summer meals to low-income kids and helped create a local community garden in partnership with the Boys & Girls Club.

 

”Gardens, farmers market, summer feeding program connected to your medical home. Those are all different types of best practices – promoting practices and interventions that we should be considering," Mouser said.

 

Dr. Colleen Witherell has worked as pediatrician at Nemours on Jessup St. for over 13 years and has seen the data in action. But she says it’s difficult to confront issues like obesity when it’s linked to cultural norms and taboos.

 

“If the parent thinks that their child is a normal weight because their child weighs kind of in the range that they did, that means that they’re overweight and that can be something that’s hard for the parents to admit to themselves," Witherell said.

 

80% of parents of overweight children and over half of parents of obese kids surveyed thought their kids were in a normal weight range.

 
The data released Thursday are part of the project's 4th iteration, released every three years.

“We do it about every three years to give us a snapshot in time of what does the health of children look like in the state of Delaware?" Mouser said.

 

Mouser says the data is intended to inform what can – and should be done – outside of the doctor’s office to improve kids’ health.

 

She adds one area where she’d like to see community conversations that dive deeper beyond the data is around community safety.

 

Only 59% of parents said they lived in neighborhoods safe for children to play outside.

 

The data is available online at datacenter.nemours.org, with searchable tools by state, county and the city of Wilmington.

 

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Delaware Public Media's Megan Pauly reports on Nemours data about First State kids' health.

 

 
 
 

 

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