Field Placement: Venice Family Clinic
Location: Venice, CA
Preceptor: Anne Staunton, PhD, MPH
Student Name: Cristina Punzalan
Year: 2004

Second only to smoking, overweight and obesity contribute about 300,000 deaths per year and costs Americans $117 billion in medical expenses and lost productivity. While overweight and obesity rates are rising rapidly among both adults and children, rates for children are especially problematic because of earlier onset of chronic disease such as hypertension and diabetes, which can be lifelong health problems. In addition to higher risk for disease, overweight has also been associated with depression and distress. The Child Overweight Prevention, Detection and Management (OPDM) Program at VFC strives to standardize care for monitoring all children and adolescents 2-18 years old, to provide not only education but also strategies for healthy living through on site programs and referrals to community resources as well as to build community relationships to better support people in the community. This internship project supported the VFC OPDM Program by assessing the actual numbers of at risk and overweight through a random sampling of pediatric medical charts from July 2003- June 2004. It was found that 30% of children are overweight and 20% are at risk. Through this chart review, we also evaluated provider practices toward the standardization of pediatric care toward detection, prevention and management of overweight. It was found that while immunization and vaccination monitoring was high; BMI and percentile calculation was low. Of 33 children found to be at risk for overweight only five were diagnosed. Of the 49 overweight children, only 23 were diagnosed. This information helps to guide and enforce new procedures for overweight prevention, detection and management. In addition to assessment and evaluation, this internship supported the implementation of a healthy lifestyle education curriculum at an after school program for low-income Latino children and adolescents. Curriculum research and trainings for staff were conducted. Quarterly parent one-hour information sessions about healthy living are currently taking place and will continue until summer 2005.

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