Fallon Community Health Plan awards $5,000 to Pediatric Obesity Program
Grant money to expand successful program to the Internet
Worcester, Mass., December 11, 2007—Fallon Community Health Plan (FCHP) will award $5,000 to Shape Your Future, a pediatric obesity program at South Shore Medical Center located in Norwell, Mass., and Kingston, Mass. This funding will help expand the current program to an interactive Web site where families can obtain vital information to make healthier meal planning choices, receive exercise advice, and use community forums and tracking tools to help monitor and encourage progress.
“The Shape Your Future program is unique as a way to support families in addressing pediatric obesity in that it is a very hands-on experience, and we have taken great pride in working on a curriculum that will get families involved together in making healthy choices,” said Satoko Porter, Program Director, Shape Your Future. “Without question, the Internet is the fastest growing resource that children and parents utilize, whether for entertainment, research or leisure. By providing the Shape Your Future program online, we’re giving families the opportunity to learn about nutrition, fitness and how to live a healthy lifestyle in an interactive way.”
The Shape Your Future program consists of individual appointments with a pediatric nurse practitioner, group orientation meeting and nutrition education classes, a supermarket tour, and two one-hour exercise sessions each week.
“By expanding the components of this program to the Internet, we’re not only helping to combat childhood obesity, but providing tools, strategies and information families need to make behavior changes,” added Porter.
South Shore Medical Center, an affiliate of Atrius Health, is a non-profit, multi-specialty medical group with practice of over 40 physicians practicing internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery, and obstetrics/gynecology. Atrius Health, an alliance of five leading community-based medical groups, is committed to making it easier for its patients to be healthy.
Every year, Fallon Community Health Plan seeks grant applications from contracted physicians dedicated to improving the health of communities throughout Massachusetts.
“Childhood obesity is of epidemic proportions in America and curing it will require an approach that is correspondingly broad,” said Eric H. Schultz, President and CEO, Fallon Community Health Plan. “We are pleased to support the expansion of the Shape Your Future program, and hope that by using this interactive Web site, families will become more engaged in the importance of nutrition and exercise.”
Lauren M. Petit
lauren.petit@fchp.org
About FCHP
Founded in 1977, Fallon Community Health Plan provides health care services designed to meet the unique and changing needs of all we serve. FCHP is the only health plan in Massachusetts that is both an insurer and provider of care. Our product portfolio includes a variety of group and individual health plan options (HMO, POS, PPO, Medicaid and Medicare Advantage plans) featuring flexible and innovative benefit designs. We administer fully-insured and self-insured funding arrangements with customized services for employers. Our uniquely developed provider networks offer high-quality, cost-effective, coordinated care and give our members access to doctors and hospitals throughout Massachusetts. We also offer a broad spectrum of services and programs to ensure our members, at every stage of life, remain as healthy and productive as possible. FCHP is a provider of care through its Summit ElderCareSM program, an advanced and completely integrated program that offers seniors and their caregivers an alternative to nursing home placement. Our continued commitment to deliver high-quality health care and exceptional customer service has earned FCHP consistent ratings as one of the nation’s top health plans, and in 2007, placed our Medicare and Medicaid health plans as the best in the nation. FCHP is the only health plan in Massachusetts to have been awarded “Excellent” Accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance for our HMO, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid products.