Staff writer Julie Fancher reports:
Community leaders met Tuesday to unveil a plan to eliminate childhood obesity in Dallas by 2020.
The plan, named Charting the Course for a Healthy Future, was introduced at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children after nearly two years of planning by a coalition of more than 60 organizations and community leaders.
?Reducing childhood obesity will have a profound impact on the health and quality of life for all North Texans,? said Susan Hoff, chief strategy officer of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. ?Teaching children to make healthy choices today enables them to make responsible choices for the rest of their lives.?
Obesity is a worsening problem among U.S.children, leading to a number of health risks such as diabetes, pre-diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
In 2012,Texasranked seventh among the states with the most obese children, andDallaswas listed as one of the top 10 most overweight cities in the nation.
?Teaching children how to eat well and live healthy is the key to preventing and reversing childhood obesity,? said Eduardo Sanchez, vice president and chief medical officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas.
Mayor Mike Rawlings spoke about his goal to help Dallas have the healthiest kids in America through a number of youth health initiatives. He believes that Charting the Course for a Healthy Future is the first step to achieving this goal.
?What we do today plants the seed for the future,? the mayor said. ?We are talking about health, and it doesn?t happen overnight, but it does happen.?
Those involved in the initiative say the coalition needs $447,000 to implement and evaluate the first year of the plan, and the panel encouraged other organizations to get involved.
?This forum is not only a call to action, but a call to arms to join us,? Sanchez said. ?This is about comprehensive sector by sector, individual by individual, and together we can do this.
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