Submitted by Armen Hareyan on Nov 5th, 2007
Childhood Obesity
Kaiser Permanente and the Golden State Warriors are teaming up to help fight childhood obesity with a video game that teaches kids to get active and an education outreach program in Bay Area schools.
The partnership tips off on Tuesday, November 6 at the Warriors-Cleveland Cavaliers game at ORACLE Arena, where Warriors forward Al Harrington will encourage children, parents and teachers to play "The Incredible Adventures of the Amazing Food Detective", a video game recently launched by Kaiser Permanente.
Amazing Food Detective is the only free, online video game in English and Spanish that teaches children to eat healthier foods, get more active and manage how they spend their time in front of the computer and television.
The video game, which is being distributed in thousands of public schools with a teaching guide and family fun pages, shuts off function after 20 minutes of play, reminds kids to get active and won't let them back into the game for an hour. The game also includes printable scavenger hunts that teach kids how to interpret food labels, experiments to show kids how to measure sugar in soda drinks, healthy kid-friendly recipes, muscle-building exercises, and family activities that encourage better eating habits.
This is the second year in a row that the Warriors and Kaiser Permanente have teamed up to educate Bay Area youth on the importance of healthy eating and active living. This season the Warriors will again offer Kaiser Permanente "Healthy Picks" meals for sale during home games at ORACLE Arena, and will repeat their popular outreach program from last year -- "Get Fit Time Out." Presented over a week in early 2008 at local schools and community organizations, each day of the week has its own health and activity theme and event.
The Warriors partnership and the Amazing Food Detective video game are part of Kaiser Permanente's $20 million annual grants to reach beyond the doctor's office to help make changes that encourage healthy eating and active living in our communities.
Among the changes Kaiser Permanente has supported are creating 35 farmers' markets at or near Kaiser Permanente facilities in six states; offering healthier food choices in school cafeterias and student stores; removing from school vending machines less-than healthy choices such as sodas; helping establish safe walking and biking routes to and from school and work; urging neighborhood markets and corner stores to offer and prominently display more fresh produce; and staging thousands of performances about healthy living by the Educational Theatre Program in schools around the U.S. ETP performances reached 539,344 kindergarten through 12th-grade students in 1,883 schools in 2006, and 13 million students since it began in 1985.
Source:
Kaiser Permanente 