PBMC Health, Suffolk County Lions Diabetes Education Foundation And Brickman Team Up With Project Fit America To Get Kids Physically Fit in Riverhead, Long Island
(Riverhead,NY) The program includes an outdoor playground area of fitness stations, as well as teacher training and curriculum. The cost of the program was $120,000, of which PBMC Health raised $60,000 which was in turn matched by the Suffolk County Lions Diabetes Education Foundation.
Brickman provided in-kind installation services to ensure the project remained on track and on budget. The new program will serve children in the Aquebogue, Phillips, Riley, Roanoke and Pulaski schools as a result of the new grant geared towards improving children’s fitness. Community use of outdoor and indoor equipment is welcome (will be open to the public).
- When: Thursday, October 10, 10:30 -11:30 am
- Where: Pulaski Street Elementary School, 300 Pulaski Street, Riverhead, NY
- Why: 25 students (5 each from the following schools: Aquebogue, Phillips, Riley, Roanoke and Pulaski) will participate in a ribbon cutting and outdoor demonstration and celebration for the new Project Fit Program, the first to take place in New York State. Riverhead Central School District is the first school in New York State to benefit from this program, provided by PBMC Health Foundation, Suffolk County Lions Diabetes Education Foundation and Brickman.
See:
- 25 students (5 each from the following schools: Aquebogue, Phillips, Riley, Roanoke and Pulaski) who will participate in the ribbon cutting and physical education demonstrations
- Andrew J. Mitchell, President and CEO, PBMC Health
- Andy Viola, Chair, Suffolk County Lions Diabetes Education Foundation
- Karyn Condoleo, Brickman
- Assemblyman Fred Thiele, NYS Assembly
The U.S. Surgeon General reports that since 1980 childhood obesity has tripled.
- Health experts have indicated that this may the first generation of children not expected to outlive their parents due to the health problems associated with obesity.
- The Government estimates 6 million American children are now overweight enough to endanger their health. An additional 5 million are on the threshold and the problem is growing even more extreme as it becomes more widespread.
- Obesity harms a child by creating adult diseases in childhood, such as:
- Among children 6 to 17, hospitalizations for gallbladder disease has tripled and increased fivefold for sleep apnea since the late 1970s. Type 2 Diabetes that damages your blood vessels throughout life and decrease longevity.
- Metabolic Syndrome that increases the risk of diabetes fivefold. If the syndrome persists into adulthood, a person is three times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke.
- The lack of fitness and health awareness contributes to many problems cited by classroom teachers, such as of self-esteem, hyperactivity, aggressive behavior resulting in classroom disruptions/playground fights and experimenting with unsafe diet practices such as fasting, diet pills, purging.
- The Centers for Disease Control states: “Students who earn higher grades are twice as likely to get regular physical activity as compared to students who earn low grades. 76 percent of students who receive mostly D’s and F’s are not physically active on a regular basis.”
