NYAM Hosts Innovative Symposium on Obesity

On January 20, 2011, NYAM hosted its first-ever symposium on innovative strategies to address the epidemic of obesity in New York, specifically in the state’s low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. The event, “What Must New York Do Now to Prevent Obesity? A Symposium of Good Ideas from the Field,” brought together local advocates, public health practitioners, and researchers to present their best suggestions and focus policymakers’ attention on the specific strategies most needed to improve the health of New Yorkers. The symposium served as the inaugural event for Designing a Strong and Healthy New York, or DASH-NY, New York State’s obesity prevention policy center and coalition, established in 2010 with funding from the New York State Department of Health.

NYAM President Jo Ivey Boufford, MD welcomed the more than 200 attendees by sounding the alarm on obesity: a staggering 60 percent of New Yorkers are overweight or obese, due largely to a lack of options in their communities to eat healthy and exercise. “We're here today to focus on what all of you have been doing to put research findings and evidence into action in your communities,” she said.

Following Dr. Boufford’s remarks, several elected officials and community leaders spoke on the need to create healthy initiatives that strike against obesity. Bronx Deputy Borough President Aurelia Greene, representing Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., described some of her borough’s current projects, including the Bronx Food and Sustainability Coalition and efforts to put salad bars in elementary schools. “Our administration is dedicated to creating healthy youth that will grow up to be healthier adults,” she said.

Keynote speaker Lynne Holden, MD, a physician specializing in emergency medicine in the Bronx for 16 years who serves as President and Executive Director of Mentoring in Medicine, said the problem of childhood obesity can lead to horrifying consequences later in life. In one such case, she treated a woman in her twenties who needed to have both legs amputated, and subsequently suffered a heart attack. “We have to be the example,” she said. “We have to take time out to pay attention to our own health.”

The event featured two panels: School and Community Food Interventions, which centered on effective ideas to ensure all New Yorkers have access to healthy foods, and Physical Activity Interventions, which focused on effective ideas to ensure all New Yorkers have opportunities for physical activity and wellness.

Brian Elbel, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Health Policy at New York University and Principal Investigator at NYU’s Nutrition and Obesity Prevention Policy Research and Evaluation Network (NOPREN), set the framework for the first panel by describing research findings concerning ways to effectively increase access to healthy food, such as implementing tax and pricing changes, and controlling marketing to children. 

Benjamin Ortiz, MD of the New York City School Meals Coalition then spoke of the need to expand and promote school breakfast programs in order to improve student health and academic achievement. Kimberly George, Executive Director of the Greater Brooklyn Health Coalition and CAMBA, advocated for the passage of a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, which she cited as “the largest single driver of the obesity epidemic.” Monica Serrano of United Neighborhood Houses shared the successful UNH program Cooking for Healthy Communities, which trains kitchen staff at UNH member agencies including childcare and seniors centers to prepare fresh, healthy meals for their clients.

In the day’s most energetic and popular presentation, panelist Stephen Ritz of Hunts Point High School and Green Living Technologies of Rochester spoke enthusiastically about mobile edible wall units, which are freestanding metal gardens capable of growing a large amount of fresh, organic produce. Mr. Ritz touted the ability to engage and improve the health of students and their families by using this technology to grow food in classrooms. During the symposium, one of the units was stationed in NYAM’s lobby, where participants could view its lush pockets of different types of plants.

The second panel was introduced by Kevin Dedner, MPH, State and Local Policy Team Leader at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity, who opened by leading symposium participants in a dance routine in order to prove how simple it is to get people moving. Mr. Dedner then offered case studies of successful physical activity programs from around the country, including the daily exercise program Jammin' Minute in Washington, D.C. and Act 1220 in Arkansas, a comprehensive plan that has halted the growth of childhood obesity in the state.

Julia De Martini Day, Director of Transportation and Health at Transportation Alternatives, called for the widespread adoption of traffic-free Play Streets, which she described as a “low-cost, high-impact way to increase access to places to be physically active.” Juan Ramon Rios of Highbridge Community Life Center in the South Bronx recommended that school gyms be opened to the public for a free, convenient physical activity option, particularly during the winter. “Incentives such as accessibility and convenience will encourage people to exercise,” he said.

James Mcdougal, Director of the sports and mentoring organization Concerned Community 4 Change, envisioned redesigning neighborhoods as “Health, Food, and Fitness Zones” with rezoned streets and a walking path connecting underused parks. Josh Wilson, Program Manager at North Country Healthy Heart upstate, emphasized the need to make sidewalks, parks and playgrounds accessible to people with physical disabilities, who make up one fifth of New Yorkers and often face environmental barriers to physical activity.

Finally, Kyle Stewart, Executive Director of the New York State YMCA, shared the YMCA’s successful Diabetes Prevention Program, a lifestyle intervention program for people identified as pre-diabetes, and called for medical insurance providers to reimburse this program, citing the potential for reducing diabetes-related health care costs through prevention.

Ruth Finkelstein, ScD, Vice President for Health Policy at NYAM, closed the symposium with a call to continue to work collaboratively on the ideas presented. “The DASH-NY team is committed to helping you connect with each other to continue this work,” she said, noting that all of the event’s presentations and resources would be made available on the DASH-NY website, and that the participants would be connected with others interested in the same strategy areas via the Internet.

The event also included a poster session featuring additional proposals from around the state. All of the submissions received for oral and poster presentations, including those not able to be featured at the event, were published in the symposium program.

The symposium was sponsored by NYAM, the New York State Health Foundation, The NYU Nutrition and Obesity Prevention Policy Research and Evaluation Network, the NYC Food and Fitness Partnership, the NYC Strategic Alliance for Health, Healthier NYC, and the American Heart Association.

To view photos and videos from the Symposium, click here.

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Posted on January 21, 2011

Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
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New York, New York 10029
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amartin@nyam.org

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