Beginning in 2001, Public Health Professionals in Barren River District investigated how Barren River children compared to the national average in terms of being overweight. Working with schools in our district, we began to collect height and weight information from physical forms required for kindergarten and 6th grade entry. Our Health Information Team analyzed and summarized the data for presentation to interested school and community groups. We found that among sixth grade students surveyed, 30% had BMI's (Body Mass Index) equal to or greater than the 95th percentile. This is compared to 15% nationwide.
This has helped spark the formation of coalitions to deal with nutrition and physical activity in several of our counties. Our Community Health Promotion Branch has coordinated activities to help focus on this problem in the schools and communities. Our Clinical Branch also focuses on the importance of proper nutrition and weight in our WIC program as well as our Well Child program.
The county links below are one page summations of district and individual county information from our BMI study.
