A new program to combat obesity among Maine children has received $285,000 in federal funds and support from various private agencies. The "Let's Go" program is already in place in southern Maine, and now Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems is introducing the simple fitness and nutrition concepts to children in northern and eastern Maine.

The rate of obesity among children in Maine is almost as alarming as the rate of obesity among adults in Maine.

"About 36 percent of our children are overweight or obese," says Michell Hood, President of Eastern Maine Healthcare System.  She says altogether, 59% of Maine people are either overweight or obese.

"Since 1980, the obesity rate for adults has doubled and for children has tripled in this state," Hood says. "And also for the first time ever, children could be the fastest growing patient population for surgical weight loss surgery."

Hood says the rise in childhood obesity is linked to a dramatic rise in the number of children diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and might also be linked to asthma.

Based on its own research, EMHS has decided it's time to start working with schools, city officials, and other community organizations to merge various efforts already underway to prevent childhood obesity.

"At the end of four years, we hope to find that we have positively effected attitudes and behaviors relative to children's fitness and nutrition," Hood says. "To do this, we will work closely with our collaborators in each of the nine counties of the EMHS service area. We are especially pleased that from Waterville to Presque Isle and Bucksport to Dover Foxcroft, Maine children will be hearing positive messages about staying fit and making healthy choices."

Right now, the Let's Go program consists of a lesson for children called 5-2-1-0. It encourages children to eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables every day, limit television and computer time to 2 hours each day, engage in 1 hour of exercise and drink zero sugary beverages.

"Let's Go is not a curriculum or program that's imposed on anybody," says Carter Friend, of the United Way of Greater Portland.
"In schools, for example, we went in with the 5-2-1-0 message, and one particular school, this was an elementary school, said, 'We're very interested in the zero message.' And so they let the kids in the classroom decide what they wanted to do around the zero message.  So they started to measure how much chocolate milk they were drinking. And those kids decided, 'We don't want to drink as much chocolate milk.' And so what the school lunch program found themselves doing two months later is having to order more white milk and decrease their order of chocolate milk. If we'd gone into the schools and told the nutrition person to do that, they would have kicked us right out. But the kids drove that."

Senator Susan Collins says she was happy to secure $285,000 in federal funding for the program. "This is an example again of the much-maligned earmarks," Collins says. "This is an example of our working hard to secure funding that's going to be a catalyst for a project that will improve the health and well-being for this entire region, a project that probably could not get underway but for federal funds."

In addition to working with schools, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems hopes to organize events through the Let's Go program such as community fitness walks.