Collaboration & Innovative Solutions
Northridge Hospital Medical Center's School-based Obesity and Diabetes Initiative (SODI) is a program designed to address the need to reduce the rate of obesity and related diseases (with an emphasis on diabetes) among public school students, their parents and teachers in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County.
Studies show that 25% of boys and 18% of girls in the 5th, 7th and 9th grades in Los Angeles public schools are overweight. Moreover, 37% of adults are overweight and projections are that overtime 9 out of 10 men and 7 out of 10 women will become overweight.
To help combat this growing trend, Northridge Hospital Medical Center and Los Angeles Unified School District Local District 1 teamed up to create a pilot wellness project to help students, parents and staff adopt healthy eating and daily exercise habits. The Initiative was launched in 2006 with 5 schools and has expanded to 30 schools. A grant from Pacificare/United Healthcare will increase the number of participating schools to 36 by January 2011.
SODI targets elementary, middle and high schools in the underserved high need communities of North Hills, Panorama City and Canoga Park. Currently 24 elementary schools, four middle schools and two high schools participate in SODI programs. Under this Initiative, each school is provided assistance in assessing its level of wellness, developing and implementing an improvement plan using LAUSD guidelines.
Northridge Hospital's Center for Healthier Communities
works in collaboration with the hospital’s Pulmonary Laboratory and the Cancer Center Navigator Program, LAUSD District 1, Coordinated School Health, Network for a Healthy California, American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, California State Senator Alex Padilla, California State University-Northridge, Enrichment Works, Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles, and Valley Care Community Consortium.
Working together with community partners, SODI is able to assist schools in addressing their wellness needs. Examples of SODI’s efforts include providing physical education equipment, assistance with state-mandated Fitnessgram testing, increased structured physical activity for elementary age students, parent cooking classes, walking groups and educational workshops for parents, on-site screenings and monitoring, teacher and staff fitness programs, and school-wide promotional campaigns encouraging healthy eating.
For more information about the School-Based Obesity and Diabetes Initiative, please contact the Center for Healthier Communities at 818-785-9253.
