National health reports rarely paint Oklahoma in a great light. However, a new campaign promoted by YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma City-County Health department aims to change that with an easy-to-remember formula of healthy habits.
OK5210 prescribes a daily routine of five fruit and vegetable servings, no more than two hours of screen time, one hour or more of exercise and no sugary drinks.
We are constantly slapped in the face with messages about obesity in Oklahoma, says Angela Jones, director of health and wellness initiatives at YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City.
“If that is the state that we are in, these four things tend to help people dig out of that,” she says.
The Y partnered with Oklahoma City-County Health Department to broaden the resource pool and reach. The campaign will first make an appearance in five to 10 Oklahoma City public schools this fall.
“If we can change the thought in school and habits with kids, we can spread this quickly,” says Jones.
OU Children’s Physicians is also participating in the effort and helping spread it beyond the Oklahoma City-County area. Dr. Ashley Weedn, pediatrician and medical director of the Healthy Futures Clinic at OU Children’s Physicians, also chairs the Obesity Committee for the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“We took a survey of all pediatricians in Oklahoma to determine what resources they needed the most. They felt like they needed help with obesity management,” she says.
Jones and Weedn collaborated to provide a consistent message in creating a physician’s toolkit for the OK5210 program. Oklahoma City-County Health Department stepped in to print the materials. They are being distributed first to Oklahoma County physicians and then to pediatricians all over the state.
Jones is also working with the Tulsa Y to inform Tulsa schools of the availability of the school tool kit through the 5210 website.
