A Cycle of Care - Unity Health Care

Improving Family Health with We Can!
On Wednesday nights, families visit Unity’s Upper Cardozo Health
Center to learn how to take charge of their health. The Wednesday
evening classes are modeled on the We Can! program, a curriculum
developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to address pediatric
obesity through community intervention.
We Can! — Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity & Nutrition — is a
national child obesity prevention program. It is designed to teach
parents and other caregivers about nutrition, exercise, and other
aspects of a healthy life. The classes involve the entire family with
activities geared toward adults and children ages 7–13.
Upper Cardozo became a We Can! site in 2008, and since then,
Physician Assistants Jessica Wallace, Brianna Katz, and Claire Rosché,
as well as other staff members, have adapted it to suit the needs of
Upper Cardozo’s patients.
“The NIH model is a curriculum of four classes, with each class
focusing on a different topic related to pediatric obesity, such as
eating more fruits and vegetables, increasing exercise, and decreasing
screen time, including television, computer, and video games,”
Wallace explains. “We started in 2008 with a four-week series, but
when it was over, people wanted to keep coming.”
Wallace and her team responded to patients’ requests by expanding
the We Can! program and making it an ongoing series. Participants
can come for one class or many, they can attend consecutive weeks
or periodic sessions — and they always will learn something and have
a good time. Some Unity families have attended for a full year.
The team also expanded the age range for participation. While the
original NIH curriculum targets 7–13 year olds, the Unity version is
for 5–15 year olds. The Unity program also talks to parents about
their own health and their struggles with weight so participants can
take a family-centered approach to being healthier.
Engaging families, measuring results, and celebrating
success
The Wednesday evening sessions are designed to be fun and active
for the entire family. Each evening focuses on an educational theme,
such as the sugar content in beverages or ways to get more exercise.
On a typical Wednesday night, participants will break into groups by
age to explore the theme. Adults might have a conversation or see a
cooking demonstration, while the kids do arts and crafts projects or
puzzles that build on the key ideas.
Or, the evening might include a grocery store scavenger hunt. Children
and their parents will have different activities, but they all will
be learning how to read food labels and make healthy choices.
“The approach we are using makes sense for our patients because
it can take a while for ideas and new habits to set in,” Wallace says.
“It’s easy to tell families to eat more vegetables and be more active,
but there obviously are barriers to making those changes. We move
beyond the script and engage in a discussion about how to do it.”
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