One in six American children is considered obese. If you know a student who is facing this issue, you can call the Healthy Hawks weight management team at the University of Kansas Medical Center to gain the support you and your student need to thoroughly address this problem.
At KU Medical Center, a team of specialists in areas such as nutrition, exercise, psychology and pediatrics stands ready to engage students and their families in learning to live healthier lives. This program is not a one- size-fits-all program, but rather comprises multiple stages in order to suit the specific needs of each family.
With the assistance of the University of Kansas Center for Telemedicine & Telehealth, the Healthy Hawks team uses interactive televideo to hold meetings with students and as many of their family members as possible, without requiring the inconvenience of traveling to and from the medical center.
The Health Hawks program is a yearlong effort that focuses not only on losing weight, but finding out the causes for a student's obesity and working on ways to develop improved lifestyle and food choices. The student and family are supported all along the way with video conferences twice a week for 12 weeks, followed by nine monthly video conferences to monitor progress and talk about developments.
As of November 2009, the cost of the Healthy Hawks program was covered by FirstGuard Health Plan, a participant in the Kansas HealthWave program.
If you need more information or want to discuss specific student needs, contact Healthy Hawks directly at 913-588-2452, or Gordon Alloway, KUCTT project director.
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The University of Kansas Medical Center