Nemours Gives Vision Awards for Excellence in Child Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Nemours Enterprise
Tuesday, January 10, 2006 @ 12:00 AM EST

Patricia Beebe, Program Manager for the Food Bank of Delaware,accepts the Nemours Vision Award from Nemours Board Chairman Jack Porter and Senior VP Debbie Chang

Nemours VP Debbie Chang (center) with recipients of the first Vision Award, Cathy Thomas, North Carolina Division of Public Health (left) and Dr. Carolyn Dunn, North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension. They represent Color Me Healthy, a nutrition and activity program they co-developed for pre-schoolers.

Nemours Health and Prevention Services, a division of Nemours, announced two winners in a new annual awards program designed to recognize exemplary programs in child health promotion. The Food Bank of Delaware’s Feeding Hungry Children program and Color Me Healthy, a program developed jointly by North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Division of Public Health were the first recipients of the awards, given at Nemours’ Conference on Child Health Promotion, December 8-9 at the Hotel duPont.

The awards program was developed to mirror the organization’s vision – optimal health and development for all children – as well as its mission of engaging communities in finding and promoting strategies to help children and families lead healthier lives. More than 20 nominations were received.

The award selection was based on three primary criteria: innovative program design, community collaboration, and effectiveness, i.e., potential to serve as a model program. Both winners received $5,000 to be used towards their programs and a glass sculpture recognizing their achievements.

The Food Bank of Delaware, based in Newark, DE, is a nonprofit agency whose mission is a community free from hunger. It collects donations from all sectors of the food industry and redistributes the food to those who need it most. In 2004, the Food Bank distributed nearly 12 million pounds of food. Of the people served by the Food Bank, 48.6% are children under 18 years old, and 6% are infants to children 5 years old.

Color Me Healthy is an educational program for child care providers. Its goal is to increase the amount of nutrition education and physical activity offered to children in their classrooms, encourage children to try to new foods and recognize fruits and vegetables so as to improve their health.

The awards will recognize annually a program based in Delaware and one from outside of Delaware. More information and a call for 2006 nominations will be announced in the spring.

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About Nemours

Nemours, one of the nation’s largest pediatric health systems, is dedicated to achieving higher standards in children’s health. Nemours offers an integrated spectrum of clinical treatment coupled with research, advocacy, and educational health and prevention services extending to all families in the communities it serves. Starting with Alfred I. duPont’s bequest over seventy years ago, Nemours has grown into a multi-dimensional organization offering personalized clinical and preventive care focused on children.

Nemours owns and operates the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware and major children’s specialty clinics in Delaware (Wilmington), Florida (Jacksonville, Orlando and Pensacola), Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Bryn Mawr) and New Jersey (Atlantic City and Voorhees). Having recently received preliminary approval from the State of Florida, Nemours will establish a new full-service children’s hospital as part of an integrated pediatric health campus in Orlando. KidsHealth.org, the world’s most visited pediatric health care Web site for parents, kids and teens, is a project of Nemours.

Nemours employs over 4,400 individuals, including 430 pediatric physicians, specialists and surgeons who cared for approximately a quarter of a million children in 2007. The organization’s goal is to align with parents, physicians, community leaders, children’s advocates and elected officials to ensure optimal wellness for every child. Additional information about Nemours can be found at www.nemours.org.