Fat chance – Fresh Beginnings tackles childhood obesity in B.R.

At the Baton Rouge Foreign Language Academic Immersion Magnet School (BRFLAIM) in Beauregard Town, students spend about 60% of their time learning, reading and speaking in French and Spanish—honing their global awareness to become effective modern leaders. But language immersion isn’t the only standout feature at this public elementary school. On the playground, veteran physical education teacher Bonnie Richardson is holding a high-energy PE class that seems to fuse circuit training with good old-fashioned fun.

Groups of children are positioned at several different exercise stations. Some do sit-ups on a sleek abdominal curl bench. Others take turns on parallel bars, inching themselves forward with determined hands as their legs sway. Another group queues up to span the horizontal ladder—yesterday’s “monkey bars”—while others shimmy up and down a climbing pole and gyrate with colorful hula hoops. The children are trying to meet personal goals at each station, and while they wait their turns, they’re rooting for their teammates to achieve their goals as well.

“There is so much more going on here than just playing,” Richardson says. “They’re learning team-building, integrity and all kinds of other interpersonal skills.”

BRFLAIM’s year-old playground equipment and companion PE lessons go a long way in building physical strength and instilling healthy habits among the student body, says Richardson. But there’s more. The program is a small part of Fresh Beginnings, a sweeping initiative underway in Baton Rouge that addresses childhood obesity.

The program began after being awarded a $1 million grant from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation, one of several grants awarded around the state to help make a dent in the state’s obesity rate. Specifically, Fresh Beginnings encourages exercise and better nutrition among young people in some of Baton Rouge’s most vulnerable neighborhoods. The grant, which is coordinated by the Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative, is matching the Blue Cross gift with more than $1 million in additional grants, including one from Project Fit America for BRFLAIM’s exercise equipment.

One in three children in Louisiana is considered overweight or obese—an alarming rate that has had public health officials wringing their hands in frustration. Without serious intervention, one third of the state’s youth will grow up to be adults at higher risk for costly health problems, including heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer. It’s a complex problem with culprits that include the built environment, lengthy commutes, “biggie”-sized fast food, sugary soda, unhealthful school lunches, lack of freedom for young people and, of course, the widespread use of video games. Experts believe it’s the combination of factors that makes the crisis so difficult to quell. Therefore, solutions must also come from several different directions.

Fresh Beginnings features two main components—food access and fitness and health education, says Grant Coordinator Lyndsi Lambert.

“There are a lot of partners involved and lots of moving parts, and that’s exactly what we need to make a difference in a public health problem this big,” she says.

For example, the fitness and health education component takes programs like the one at BRFLAIM and replicates it in three other elementary schools, Buchanan, Ryan and Winbourne. Moreover, teachers across different curricula at these schools and others in East Baton Rouge Parish have been trained in integrating health and wellness teaching across the disciplines so that the message of good eating and exercise has a better chance of being heard.

Richardson says the program is exactly what this generation of kids needs. Over the course of her 30-year career in physical education, she has watched the erosion of spontaneous outdoor play and the rise of sedentary activities.

“Our kids are more tech-savvy; there’s no doubt,” she says. “But now they’re soft. And these things that we’re doing with Project Fit America and Fresh Beginnings are helping them build strength, stimulate their brain and learn valuable life skills.”

Lambert also is working with the Big River Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance (BREADA) on its three new mobile farmers markets. A partnership with Together Baton Rouge aims to improve public policy related to food access, and the local Redevelopment Authority (RDA) has a Healthy Corner Store Initiative that will bring fresh items to four urban convenience stores.

“Our goal is to bring all these partners together,” says Lambert, “so we can really make a difference.” healthybr.com/fresh-beginnings