As part of the multidimensional childhood obesity study, Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo will be given grant money to hire temporary volunteers to perform family intervention in the community, officials said.
Community volunteers — promotoras — will be utilized to reach out to the community and offer intervention to help the families stay on track, said Dr. Guadalupe Ayala, San Diego State University public health professor and co-director of the Prevention Research Center.
As members of the community who often are facing the same concerns, the promotoras also enjoy a deeper level of trust and confidence with local families than a medical professional, Ayala said. Families in the community will often recognize that the promotoras are dealing with the same issues and are highly motivated to make changes in the community, Ayala said.
“Promotoras are the ones who get the families to open the doors to us,” Ayala said. “They can have more of a lasting effect than a medical professional.”
To help further understand the motivating factors behind the prevalence of childhood obesity in the county, the county Public Health Department, along with Clinicas de Salud and San Diego State University, will be carrying out a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded study.
The study, which is in its preliminary stages, will recruit about 1,500 families from El Centro, Calexico and Brawley and track their body mass index over a two-year period.
Local restaurants will also be asked to join the effort by providing reasonably-priced healthy smaller-sized portions, said Cynthia Dagnino, program director at Clinicas de Salud.
Local school districts will also be asked to consider the implementation of policies that would offer students healthier food choices while on campus, said Ayala.
While the county, SDSU and Clinicas de Salud will be devoting their resources to different components of the study, they will be working in conjunction to identify effective strategies that will be used to inform future recommendations, said Dr. Amy Binggeli, with the county Public Health Department and one of the study’s principal investigators.
The study is expected to generate data that will add another layer of understanding that the county can build on and share.
“It’s not like if we didn’t have the study we wouldn’t be doing anything,” Binggeli said.
The long-term relationship and the framework that the three agencies have developed in regards to childhood obesity prevention was partly why the CDC chose the county for the demonstration study out of about 200 applicants nationwide, Binggeli said.
“The community as a whole, and especially children, will be the central focus,” Binggelli said.
The study will target children ages 2-12 years old, according to the CDC Web site, and is expected to be finished by September 2015.
Staff Writer Julio Morales can be reached at 760-335-4665 or at jmorales@ivpressonline.com
Community volunteers — promotoras — will be utilized to reach out to the community and offer intervention to help the families stay on track, said Dr. Guadalupe Ayala, San Diego State University public health professor and co-director of the Prevention Research Center.
As members of the community who often are facing the same concerns, the promotoras also enjoy a deeper level of trust and confidence with local families than a medical professional, Ayala said. Families in the community will often recognize that the promotoras are dealing with the same issues and are highly motivated to make changes in the community, Ayala said.
“Promotoras are the ones who get the families to open the doors to us,” Ayala said. “They can have more of a lasting effect than a medical professional.”
To help further understand the motivating factors behind the prevalence of childhood obesity in the county, the county Public Health Department, along with Clinicas de Salud and San Diego State University, will be carrying out a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded study.
The study, which is in its preliminary stages, will recruit about 1,500 families from El Centro, Calexico and Brawley and track their body mass index over a two-year period.
Local restaurants will also be asked to join the effort by providing reasonably-priced healthy smaller-sized portions, said Cynthia Dagnino, program director at Clinicas de Salud.
Local school districts will also be asked to consider the implementation of policies that would offer students healthier food choices while on campus, said Ayala.
While the county, SDSU and Clinicas de Salud will be devoting their resources to different components of the study, they will be working in conjunction to identify effective strategies that will be used to inform future recommendations, said Dr. Amy Binggeli, with the county Public Health Department and one of the study’s principal investigators.
The study is expected to generate data that will add another layer of understanding that the county can build on and share.
“It’s not like if we didn’t have the study we wouldn’t be doing anything,” Binggeli said.
The long-term relationship and the framework that the three agencies have developed in regards to childhood obesity prevention was partly why the CDC chose the county for the demonstration study out of about 200 applicants nationwide, Binggeli said.
“The community as a whole, and especially children, will be the central focus,” Binggelli said.
The study will target children ages 2-12 years old, according to the CDC Web site, and is expected to be finished by September 2015.
Staff Writer Julio Morales can be reached at 760-335-4665 or at jmorales@ivpressonline.com
