If you’re concerned about your child’s weight, or your child has been referred for treatment of childhood obesity, you are not alone. One-third of children in the United States are currently considered overweight or obese based on their body mass index, or BMI. (BMI is a calculation that uses height and weight to estimate how much body fat someone has.)
Nemours is proactively addressing this important issue. We’re proud to have several leading national childhood obesity experts right here on our staff. We offer the longest-running hospital-based obesity clinic in Delaware, a dedicated “Healthy Choices Clinic” in Florida, weight management programs and services at all Nemours locations, and Nemours Health and Prevention Services—an entire division focused exclusively on community-based childhood obesity prevention and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.
A Leader in Pediatric Obesity Treatment and Prevention
Nemours offers decades of clinical and research expertise related to pediatric obesity. That means we can help your family no matter where you are on the road to achieving a healthier lifestyle.
Some families may simply be looking for practical advice and strategies related to healthier eating and exercise. Some may have a child who’s been identified as having an unhealthy BMI (children above the 95th percentile are considered obese; those between the 85th to 94th percentile are said to be overweight) and need a supervised program to help him or her shed excess pounds. Still others may have a child who requires surgical intervention to avoid or resolve life-threatening conditions related to obesity.
Wherever your family is today, we know how to get you to where you want to be tomorrow. Nemours’ programs and services are designed to support you and your child as you make that journey toward better health.
Our Model for Total Wellness
Across Nemours campuses, teams of dedicated childhood obesity experts work one-on-one with your child and family to develop a personalized treatment plan. We take many factors into consideration, including your child’s overall physical, social, and emotional health; the stage of your child’s obesity; and your family’s lifestyle and readiness for change. Our teams include:
- doctors who are subspecialists from a variety of medical areas
- physician assistants
- nurse practitioners
- exercise physiologists
- registered dietitians
- social workers
- psychologists
- researchers
- child advocates
- health information experts
From prevention education to specialized treatment, our programs integrate the latest research and most advanced clinical care to address the whole child. Here are some of the services we offer:
- obesity prevention through primary care offices, including early identification and management of at-risk and less complex cases
- referral-based clinical weight management services, which include consultations with our doctors, registered dietitians, exercise specialists, and psychologists, as well as others who can help to identify the best methods for improving your child’s healthy habits
- support groups and other specialized programs to address your child’s physical, nutritional, emotional, social, and behavioral needs
- adolescent bariatric surgery (weight loss surgery to reduce the size of the stomach) for children who are severely obese and meet certain diagnostic criteria
For children with serious complications resulting from obesity (pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, asthma, stroke, and heart disease, among others), we offer numerous pediatric specialties all under one roof who can help co-manage your child’s case. These experts are also able to provide guidance when it comes to the needs of special subsets of overweight or obese children, such as kids under the age of 5, or those with other medical conditions that may make it harder for them to lose weight (for example, cerebral palsy or spina bifida, which both may require wheelchair use.)
Furthermore, all of Nemours’ services and programs are connected through NemoursOne, an electronic medical record that allows all of your child’s doctors and caregivers to communicate in “real time.” This reduces redundancy in testing and other services, and keeps all team members up-to-date on your child’s visits and progress.
Beyond Our Walls
Nemours’ commitment to preventing and treating childhood obesity reaches far beyond our hospitals and clinics and out into the community. Nemours Health and Prevention Services (NHPS) is a division specially created to focus on health promotion and obesity prevention activities in the many different places where children and families spend their time, such as:
- child-care centers
- schools
- after-school programs
- primary care settings
- the “built environment,” which includes the physical environment of our communities, such as sidewalks, trails, bike paths, parks, and recreation areas –the availability of which can increase families’ opportunities for physical activity and access to healthy foods.
Although the centerpiece of NHPS’ endeavor is the promotion of the 5-2-1-Almost None healthy lifestyle, our campaign is even more broad-reaching. Our goal is to enhance community awareness of strategies to keep kids healthy through outreach efforts, publications, online resources, and advocacy on the local, state, and national level. Through increased awareness, we hope to engage parents, communities and decision makers as advocates for the creation of environments that make healthy choices easy for children and families.
A Range of Support for a Chronic Condition
Although there is no real “cure” for obesity, Nemours’ family-centered approach helps families work together to change their behaviors and move toward success. We believe real progress can be made when communities are informed and activated, and primary health care providers are prepared and proactive.
That’s why we’ve developed tools and resources to help primary care providers in the early identification of children at risk of obesity. For example, BMI data is tracked electronically at all of our primary care sites so that at-risk children can be identified earlier and receive intervention before problems begin. For children who are referred at the primary care level, specialty clinical services are available to assist families at each of our locations
Behavior-based weight loss results are also tracked for ongoing research purposes. By determining the “best practices” of obesity prevention and treatment, we can better direct our future clinical intervention and prevention initiatives, as well as offer evidence-based support to primary care doctors.
