National Child Health Day, Oct. 5, 2009.

Today, October 5, 2009, National Child Health Day in the United States.

This year’s topic is Medical Home, providing all children with a medical home. What is a medical home? It is a continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally effective way of providing medical care.

OK, that’s fine, but what does that mean to you as a parent, as a caregiver, or as a child? The American Academy of Pediatrics has made available PDF documents for you to learn more about medical homes. In the documents, you learn about what to expect from a pediatric team, how to make medical home improvements, and how to work with your medical team. Children can learn about their role in health care.

• Medical Home for Parents
• Medical Home for Kids
• Healthy Living

The AAP Medical Home Initiatives also offers several links for resources. Here are just a few:

• Build Your Own Care Notebook
• A Medical Home is About You – Brochure
• Families Partnering With Providers

Last year’s topic was overweight and obese children.

Here are some sobering statistics:

• One in six children in the United States is overweight
• Obesity has doubled among preschoolers within the past 30 years
• Obesity has tripled among school-age, adolescent and teen-aged children, also within the past 30 years.

Children who are overweight or obese are at risk for:

• asthma
• diabetes
• heart disease
• psychological issues (bullying at school, poor self-image, etc)
• a head start on chronic diseases as an adult

Children don’t have to be overweight. It’s not always preventable, but most of the time, childhood weight problems have more to do with sedentary lifestyles and poor diet than anything else.

If you’re concerned about your child and his or her well-being, check out these services offered by the U.S. Department of Health:

What You Can Do

• Use the Child and Teen BMI (Body Mass Index) Calculator to find out if your child or teenager is at risk for or already overweight.
• Use My Pyramid Menu Planner to help you make healthy food choices for yourself and your family.
• Visit Healthy Weight: It’s Not a Diet, It’s a Lifestyle for tips on healthy eating and physical activity.
• See Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future, the U.S. Surgeon General’s Childhood Overweight and Obesity Prevention Initiative

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Images: National Child Health Day