With high rates of childhood weight issues, for the first time, children are expected to live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. Childhood obesity has tripled during the last 30 years, and has become a critical issue to the future of children’s health.

It’s bad news for children and bad news for the community if the next generation workforce is likely to be less healthy than their parents.

Reversing the trend in childhood obesity

In the St. Croix Valley of Minnesota and Wisconsin, this disturbing trend is being tackled through PowerUp.

PowerUp is a community-based initiative created to address the core contributors to overweight and obesity in children, and the subsequent health issues that can develop from them.

"We see diabetes now at much younger ages, and high blood pressure starting in kids which we never saw 30 years ago, that just wasn’t heard of," reports Sue Hedlund, Chair of the PowerUp Advisory Committee, and former Deputy Director of the Washington County Department of Public Health.

This shocking realization prompted Sue and other community members of the Lakeview Health Foundation community health advisory team to make childhood obesity a priority for their community. With the financial support, staff and expertise of HealthPartners and the Lakeview Health Foundation , in 2013 the PowerUp initiative was launched.

Lakeview staff and community advisors put things in motion. They engaged  local schools, businesses, government, non-profit organizations, civic and faith community groups, and residents to join in their efforts to help their kids have a healthier and brighter future.

"PowerUp is a good example of first making a commitment to support a health and well-being program, and then asking the community what they want to do, what matters most to them," explains Nico Pronk, President of HealthPartners Institute. "Slowly but surely things start to change as people become engaged because they care."

"It took having a lot of coffees with people," laughs Stephanie Kovarik, RD, LD Community Health Coordinator for Lakeview Health Foundation who worked hard to motivate local businesses, and residents to get involved.

Helping kids eat better and be more active

The overall goal of PowerUp, according to Marna Canterbury, Director of Community Health with the Lakeview Health Foundation, is to “make it easy and fun for kids in our community to eat well and be active.”

Do you remember thinking as a kid that eating fruits and veggies, or being told to be more active was fun?

Since 2013, PowerUp has achieved this seemingly impossible goal with programs such as:

• Try For 5 a Day School Challenge: a fun three-week program challenges elementary-aged students to eat five fruits and vegetables every day.
• PowerUp in The Parks Rx: Prescriptions distributed by local pediatricians provide kids and their families guides to access outdoor recreation and activities at National, State and local parks.
• Cooking Classes: in partnership with Cooks of Crocus Hill in Stillwater and the Farm Table in Amery, WI , kids can learn from real chefs how to prepare fruits and vegetables in fun and delicious ways.
• Open Gyms: free access to community gyms and activities, like dance parties and open skates encourage exercise, movement and fun.
• SuperShelf: food shelves are transformed by making healthy foods available, accessible and appealing for clients in a positive, grocery store-like experience.
• PowerUp Ambassadors: members of the community of all ages bring their interests and expertise to inspire kids and families to eat better and move more.
• PowerUp Teen Leadership Council: the next generation of community health leaders are nurtured.

PowerUp’s superhero carrot mascot, Chomp, has become somewhat of a local celebrity throughout the community. Chomp serves as the inspiration for everyone to eat better and move more. He’s helped reinforce that the initiative's health messages are positive and fun, rather than reprimanding with finger-wagging "shoulds."

"My kids feel like they know Chomp. Like he’s their personal friend. For some kids it might be their only positive association with a vegetable!" exclaims Katie J., a mom in the PowerUp community.

"Wrap-around approach" drives PowerUp's impact

Since PowerUp began there has been 100 percent participation from local schools, and 44,000 students have taken part in the Try for 5 School Challenge. School lunches and concessions at High School football games have changed to healthier options, and 1,700 kids have taken part in cooking classes at Cooks of Crocus Hill.

Kids and families have also gotten more physically active during this time by attending more than 200 PowerUp open gyms and events, as well as utilizing 1,900 state park passports distributed by local pediatricians.

The end result of this tremendous participation in the PowerUp initiative is the affect it has had on the health of its kids. The BMI (body mass index) measures of children aged 6-10 years old within the communities are lower, compared to kids outside the St. Croix Valley.

From its inception as a way to address a major concern of parents in the St. Croix Valley, to its thriving network of local schools, government, businesses and people in the community, PowerUp has proven to be an incredible success.

One reason for that, Marna Canterbury tells us, is the initiative’s “wrap-around approach, that doesn’t just focus on changing individual behavior, but also tries to change the environment of food and physical activity, and engage the broad community."

"This has staying power, this has legs," says Dr. Brian Cress, Pediatrician with Lakeview Health. “This is going to make a difference in our children.”

Healthier children, mean healthier families, and healthier, more productive communities.  If you’d like to learn more about how you can get involved or contribute to PowerUp, contact Marna Canterbury with the Lakeview Health Foundation at: 651-430-8733 or Marna.M.Canterbury@Lakeview.Org

Note: Nico Pronk is president of HealthPartners Institute, chief science officer of HealthPartners, adjunct professor at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, and co-chairman of Healthy People 2030 (the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2030).