Intermountain Press Release

Salt Lake City —Intermountain Healthcare has launched a multi-year public service campaign to get children to be more physically active and eat healthier. Named LiVe, the campaign is focused primarily at children ages 11-15, and will also help parents gain tools and knowledge to help their children.

Visit the new interactive LiVe website:

• IntermountainLiVe.org

The website contains helpful materials for parents and children, as well as fun games that teach kids about living a healthy lifestyle, and posters that can be downloaded.

Encouraging kids to get active. The LiVe campaign includes advertising, sponsorship of events that promote physical activity, school assemblies, new education materials for health providers, an interactive website, and informational offerings for kids, teens, and their parents. The LiVe website contains helpful materials for parents and children, as well as fun games that teach kids about living a healthy lifestyle. Posters and brochures can be downloaded and printed from the website.

"LiVe will encourage kids to spend less time with game systems and computers," says Tamara Lewis, MD, Intermountain Healthcare director of Community Health. "It will teach them to think about what they eat and to not be sedentary. We've asked them what will help them with these issues and are incorporating their input."

In addition, the LiVe campaign will also be taking an educational program statewide to schools to be presented in assemblies. The educational program, also named LiVe, has an entertaining and thought provoking format that encourages kids to be active and make good health choices.

The public service program will include a component named ViVe that specifically addresses the Hispanic community.

Why is childhood obesity a priority? Childhood obesity is a serious epidemic facing not just Utah, but the entire nation. Studies estimate that about one in four Utah children are overweight with nearly 10 percent of all Utah kids classified as obese. "This may be the most critical health issue for this generation," says Lewis. "If this runaway train isn't slowed the crisis will cause even more serious health impacts in the future."

Tens of thousands of Utah children are at risk of living shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. While the reasons for an increase in unfit children are complex, two main factors have greatly contributed to the problem: A lack of activity and unhealthy eating habits.

"Some people have said this issue is too complex or impossible to solve," says Lewis. "But society has made significant strides in other areas where the challenge was also substantial." Lewis cites other public service campaigns over the past several decades which led to a dramatic increase in the use of seat belts and infant car seats, as well as significant decreases in smoking rates in Utah and nationally.

And because health providers in medical clinics play a vital role in helping kids and their parents with this issue, the campaign includes providing pediatricians, family physicians, and other medical personnel with new tools and health education materials to share with their patients.

"The medical community can lead this effort and make a real difference," says Lewis. "LiVe can help children be more physically active and make more healthy food choices. By coordinating with children, parents, schools, and the medical community, we can reverse the direction this crisis is heading."