Sioux Falls, SD (PRWEB) January 05, 2013
A [recent study published in the Journal of Pediatrics indicates that children in daycare settings have a significantly increased risk of childhood obesity. Researchers acknowledged that a child in a daycare setting is not automatically condemned to a life of obesity and even recommended that child care providers could take a leading role in teaching children healthy habits.
“South Dakota has the highest percentage of child care use in the nation,” said Kim Overby, Director, Women and Children’s Community Programming at Sanford Health. “There are programs in place to help providers promote healthy choices with the children in their care.”
fit-Care is a child care curriculum and training program developed by Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, SD. The program was created in partnership with the South Dakota Departments of Health and Social Services to train childcare providers how teach and role model fit behaviors along with educating parents and families. Child care providers have access to the fit-care curriculum and training courses through training providers across South Dakota.
fit-Care, is connected to the broader Sanford fit initiative that focuses on engaging, educating and activating children of all ages to live a balanced, healthy lifestyle. It is the only national initiative that connects all four key contributing factors to children’s health that lead to real change: FOOD (Nutritional Fitness); MOVE (Physical Fitness); MOOD (Emotional Fitness); and RECHARGE (Restorative Fitness). In 2010, Sanford Health partnered with WebMD to also create fit (fit.SanfordHealth.org), which provides engaging and helpful resources aimed at promoting and activating lifelong healthy habits and behaviors for children and families.
fit is a national initiative made possible by a partnership between Sanford Health and WebMD. With headquarters in Fargo, ND, and Sioux Falls, SD, Sanford Health is the largest rural nonprofit health care system in the United States. WebMD, the leading source of health information empowers and enables consumers to make health decisions anytime, anywhere.