Research, partnership and evaluation for childhood obesity prevention,
local food systems and food insecurity.

FEBRUARY NEWS

 

NUTRITION EDUCATION VIDEOS LAUNCHED
TO PREVENT CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Center Research Scientist Dan Schober, PhD was awarded one of five Children's Hospital & Medical Center Preventing Childhood Obesity Community Grants to lead the development of videos that instruct early care and education (ECE) providers and parents to teach children about nutrition during meals. The videos, geared toward teaching children ages two to five, follow standards found in the second edition of Preventing Childhood Obesity in Early Care and Education Programs, Second Edition. The videos are available at teachkidsnutrition.org.
 
The development of these videos involved convening a local, multi-disciplinary group of five experts in nutrition education, called the Omaha Nutrition Education Collaborative (ONEC). This group includes a pediatrician, an early education researcher, an early care director, a public health practitioner and a registered dietician.
 
Center staff interviewed ONEC representatives, national experts and early care teachers, and then analyzed findings to develop strategies that ECE teachers and parents could use to teach children about nutrition during meals. The center worked with Omaha-based Edison Creative to produce these videos.
 
The Center is working on disseminating the videos to ECE providers across the state while also working with the Early Childhood Consortium of the Omaha Area to enable childcare providers who view these videos and complete the workbook to gain in-service hours.
 
Special thanks to Deborah Winkelmann and Jane Boulter with Educare of Omaha at Indian Hill for appearing in the videos, to Luke Bolin, Shawn Gourley and Skylar Hogan with Edison Creative for their collaboration on this project, and to Children’s Hospital & Medical Center for funding this project as part of its effort to team up with community partners to reverse the dangerous epidemic of childhood obesity.

 




YAROCH AND YARMON ATTENDING
SCHOOL FOOD FOCUS MEETING

Continuing to promote and work in the area of Farm to School, Center Executive Director Amy Yaroch and Omaha Public School’s Food Service Director Tammy Yarmon are attending the School Food FOCUS National Gathering in Oakland, Calif., February 6 through 8 to “transform the school food landscape.” They are also attending a pre-meeting of the Regional Learning Labs today.

 




YAROCH AND PINARD TO ATTEND
HEALTHY EATING RESEARCH MEETING

Drs. Amy Yaroch and Courtney Pinard will be attending the 8th Annual Healthy Eating Research Grantee Meeting, February 26 through 28. Yaroch is on the meeting’s planning committee and will also be presenting at the funders roundtable, “Being Proactive in a Tough Funding Climate,” and Pinard will be attending as a New Connections grantee.

 




BERTMANN PRESENTING WEBINAR ON LOCAL FOODS
On Tuesday, February 11 at 2 p.m. Central, the Center’s Farryl Bertmann, PhD, RD and Beth Falls, PhD, RD, research scientist at the Ocean Research & Conservation Association, will present a webinar, “The Role of Dietitians in the Local Foods Movement,” for the Hunger and Environmental Nutrition (HEN) dietetics practice group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

This session will outline the roles of the dietitian in local food initiatives, along with how local food programs can impact a dietitian’s practice. The need for research related to local food will be discussed, and how dietitians are uniquely qualified to carry out that research.

HEN members may register for free, and there is a $10 charge for non-members. Click here to register.

 




BOARD MEMBERS RECEIVE FITBITS
When Center Board President Ted Bridges, president, CEO, director, Bridges Investment Management, learned that all Center staff received Fitbits to track physical activity, he was inspired to personally purchase Fitbits for all ten board of directors members as well.

A special thank you to Ted for his enthusiasm toward physical activity and generosity in purchasing the Fitbits! We’re thinking a staff-board fitness challenge is in order.

 




RECENT PUBLICATIONS
In 2012, the Weight of the Nation (WON) conference brought together representatives of various government agencies, schools, non-profits, health care industries and research institutions. The conference gave these leaders an opportunity to discuss innovative obesity prevention strategies and disseminate information across various platforms. And, more so than in the past, it focused on the policies, systems and environments that affect people's ability to establish and maintain a healthy lifestyle. As a result eight tracks that each plays a role in national obesity prevention efforts were identified: the Built Environment and Transportation, Early Care and Education, Food and Water Systems, Laws and Legal Authorities, Medical Care, Schools, States and Communities, and Workplaces. Yaroch was co-lead of the track on the food and water system.

A special issue of The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics includes articles on these eight tracks, including an article by Drs. Yaroch and Pinard from the Center:

Pinard CA, Kim SA, Story M, Yaroch AL. The food and water system: impacts on obesity. J Law Med Ethics. 2013;41 Suppl 2:52–60.

Two articles by Dr. Dan Schober were published recently as well:

Watson-Thompson J, Woods NK, Schober DJ, Schultz JA. Enhancing the capacity of substance abuse prevention coalitions through training and technical assistance. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community. 2013;41(3):176–187. doi:10.1080/10852352.2013.788345.

Watson-Thompson J, Jones MD, Colvin JD, McClendon-Cole T, Schober DJ, Johnson AM. Supporting a community-based participatory evaluation approach to violence prevention in Kansas City. J Prev Interv Community. 2013;41(3):155–166. doi:10.1080/10852352.2013.
 

 



The Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition aids in survey development and evaluation for national organizations and others. If you are interested in finding out more about these services, please contact Dr. Amy Yaroch, executive director, at ayaroch@centerfornutrition.org.
 

Thanks to a grant from
Children's Hospital
& Medical Center,
videos that instruct
educators and parents
on teaching children
about nutrition
have been produced.

Dr. Amy Yaroch,
Executive Director 

Mission

The Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition is an independent research institution providing scientific expertise, partnership and resources to improve diet and physical activity behaviors among youth and their families to help grow a healthier next generation.
Copyright © 2014 Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition, All rights reserved.
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