Since 2008, more than 1,200 Nashville youth have walked, danced and eaten their way to healthier futures thanks to The Nashville Collaborative.
A project of Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt and Metro Parks and Recreation, the program brings the community together with researchers to create and test innovative programs aimed at keeping children healthy and active. Their goal is to help children maintain a healthy weight and to prevent chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes.
“Any projects we develop and test must meet four criteria,” said program founder Shari Barkin, MD, director of the Division of General Pediatrics at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. “They must be community centered, family based, have the potential of sustainability, and be measurable.”
Their current Growing Right Onto Wellness trial (GROW) includes 610 parent/child dyads and is just one of many studies underway in Middle Tennessee. Barkin said families often enroll additional siblings and family members once they realize the program’s added value. While educational, exercise and after-school programs strive to prevent obesity in youth, parents also are picking up better habits, learning how better lifestyle choices impact the overall wellness of the entire family.
The program has received international attention, with Barkin now a sought-after speaker across the globe. To date, The Nashville Collaborative has received $15 million in grants, most of that focused on programs in Middle Tennessee. The Nashville Collaborative meets monthly to develop ideas that meet their four criteria, write grants and disseminate information.
Barkin said they’re constantly looking for avenues and strategies to spread the information they’ve learned – not only to improve the health of Nashvillians but also to export the program beyond Tennessee’s borders. A recent grant from the National Cancer Institute will allow Barkin to expand one of their first projects, Salud con la Familia (Health with the Family), to four more states. The study, which was focused on reducing childhood obesity in Latino populations, showed that a simple 12-week program could improve early childhood growth and keep kids on a healthy growth curve.
“What’s exciting is that we have the potential to export these programs across parks and recreation to more than 230 million Americans,” Barkin said. “We’re really focused on that, and we believe it puts Nashville in a really good place.”
RELATED LINKS:
The Nashville Collaborative: http://childrenshospital.vanderbilt.org/nashvillecollaborative
Salud America: http://salud-america.org
Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt: http://www.childrenshospital.vanderbilt.org
Dr. Shari Barkin: http://pediatrics.mc.vanderbilt.edu/directory/profile/shari-barkin.4703