Schools helping children fight fat

After two years of eating more vegetables and fewer burgers and fries, Montanna Flanagan, 13, has lost 1.4 pounds for every year she's been alive

She shrank by 18 pounds, from 164 to 146, she said, by overhauling her diet, hoofing it to a dance troupe and vaulting to the cheerleading squad at Chambers Middle School in Hollandale.

"I wasn't doing any kind of activity before," she said, "but one day I started looking at my weight and decided to do something about it."

Many more of Mississippi's schoolchildren should do something about their weight, health experts say.

A report released in July, F as in Fat, said this state has the highest rate of obese and overweight children in the country: 44.4 percent.

The state's Department of Education and Department of Health acted this past week by staging a training conference for Mississippi's school nurses: the School Nurse Childhood Obesity Education program.

More than 400 school nurses gathered for it in Jackson, becoming the first in the nation to absorb this instruction forged by the National Association of School Nurses.

A second session will be Sept. 22 in Tupelo.

"We made the decision to take this training," said Estelle Watts, statewide school nurse consultant for the Department of Education.

"More and more students are coming to school with chronic health problems, including obesity.

"But we didn't get here overnight, and it won't be fixed overnight."

Dr. Dan Jones, one of the conference speakers, compared the problem to America's bygone polio epidemic.

But there is a difference: "There is no vaccine for obesity," said Jones, chancellor of the University of Mississippi and former dean of the university's School of Medicine.

As with the polio outbreak of the '50s, he said, fighting childhood obesity means educators and health-care professionals must collaborate.

School nurses, he said, can be part of a cure. No one knows that better than a school nurse, Watts said. "For a student to do his best learning, he needs to be healthy.

"A nurse can teach students how to make better choices when it comes to eating and exercise."

A nurse must also be a role model, said Mary LaSalle, school nurse for the Ocean Springs School District.

"Being overweight is like carrying a 20-pound backpack with you all the time.

"Starting tomorrow, I'm going to lose my 20-pound backpack."

School nurses can make a "significant impact," said Dr. Gabriel Uwaifo, a UMC associate professor of medicine and expert on obesity and diabetes.

"Obesity is such a huge problem, it's impossible to solve it all at once. Making small dents where you can is the way to start.

"For school nurses to succeed, though, they need enough resources.

"For instance, you can tell kids that physical activity is important, but what does that mean if no time is set aside during the school day for it?

"Kids learn quickly what is really important to an adult."

Numbers are also critical, Uwaifo said.

"If you have one nurse or health educator for a school of, say, 500 kids, that person will have their hands full taking care of day-to-day needs.

"They may not have time for health education."

A ratio of at least one nurse per 750 students is the recommendation of the National Association of School Nurses, Watts said.

Mississippi's ratio is about one per 1,190. "That puts us about midway in the rankings for all states," Watts said.

In Mississippi, 12 public school districts have no school nurses, and for many that do, one nurse serves more than one school.

"We are constantly pushing for more school nurses," Watts said, "trying to raise awareness among state legislators to get them to fund more positions, and trying to make school districts aware of the need."

Conceding a link between good health and learning, some school districts have adopted wellness programs that set local standards for students' physical activity, nutrition, meal portions, snacks and more.

Measures include removing vending machines or replacing calorie-laden snacks with more healthful ones.

Some schools have used grants, including those from the nonprofit Bower Foundation, to alter the campuses' dietary landscape.

Many have junked conventional fryers in favor of ovens that use steam and hot air to prepare foods.

One of those is the Hollandale School District, where Montanna is making the most of opportunities to get more physical.

"I had been focused only on my school work," she said.

"But then I started looking at my weight. I felt bad for myself. So I started doing activities and eating right.

"I eat about half or a third as much fast food as I used to. I eat my vegetables and fruit every day. "I have high self-esteem now."

One of the people responsible for preaching the gospel of healthful habits to students like Montanna is Mamie Warren, nurse for the Hollandale district's three public schools.

"You used to see these kids standing off by themselves, not taking part in any activities," she said.

"Many of them were overweight, and some were thought to be lazy.

"So I asked them to join a dance team or to try out for cheerleader. Many did.

"No one had ever given them this choice before."

To comment on this story, call Gary Pettus at (601) 961-7037.