Childhood obesity is a growing health concern in the Loudoun County community. To address this concern, HealthWorks of Northern Virginia has developed PALS: Pediatric Healthy Active Living Center.
HealthWorks for Northern Virginia is a trio of community health centers located in: Leesburg, Sterling and Herndon, Virginia. Formerly Loudoun Community Health Center, The Health Center for Children & Families, and the Jeanie Schmidt Free Clinic. HealthWorks represents expansion to meet the growing need for quality health care.
The PALS team consists of pediatricians, counselors, a registered dietician certified in weight management, and family education and fitness. The PALS program is committed to provide access through best-practice multi-disciplinary services to children and families.
- 40% of HealthWorks patients under the age of 5, and 50% of patients between the ages of 6 and 17 are at or above the 85th percentile for BMI (overweight or obese)
- About 25% of patients aged 2 to 17 are above the 95th percentile (obese).
- Target childhood obesity in current HealthWorks families as well as reaching out to other similarly high risk, low-income families in Northern Virginia
At our January 2014 Steering Committee Meeting we had the pleasure of learning more about the program from Dr. Janine Rethy, MD, MPH, FAAP, IBCLC, Director Community Medicine at HealthWorks and Julie Leopold, RD, PALS nutritionist. For the presentation please click here>>>. To learn more about HealthWorks of Northern Virginia please click here>>>.