Cancer, Alzheimer's, muscular dystrophy and Parkinson's -- there are lots of medical problems that researchers are still trying to understand, treat and cure. In other cases, we already have the answers on how to stay healthy, but aren't using them.
The most glaring example? Childhood obesity.
It's past time for the Mat-Su area to start tackling this problem. We know it's there, but for some reason we haven't come up with a comprehensive strategy to address it. It's going to take working as a community to get the results our children desperately need and deserve.
The grim statistics should be enough to motivate us. Diabetes is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States today. In 1990, 4 percent of adolescent children were being diagnosed with Type 2, non-insulin dependent diabetes, which is associated with obesity.
Today, that number has grown to a staggering 20 percent -- and unfortunately the predicted impacts on many of these young lives will be devastating. According to the American Obesity Association, more than half of America's children and adolescents eat less than one serving of fruit and one-fourth eat less than one serving of vegetables each day.
In many Mat-Su homes a sedentary lifestyle has become acceptable. The result? Nearly one in five high school students is overweight and one in 10 is obese. Ten percent of today's kids report they are taking diet pills, powders or liquids without a doctor's supervision to lose weight.
The recipe for solving the childhood obesity problem that is overtaking our young people is pretty clear -- better eating habits and more exercise. But as any of us who have tackled a weight problem know, it's not quite that simple.
At advisory committee meetings convened by the Mat-Su Health Foundation, we heard the needs loud and clear -- the obesity problem is a significant concern. These advisory committees will be charged with being the pulse of three regions in the Valley, and giving counsel to the Foundation's board of directors on health initiatives worthy of funding.
With a percentage of Mat-Su Regional Medical Center's revenues going to the Mat-Su Health Foundation over the coming years, the funding is going to be there to tackle serious community health problems over the long term.
The foundation has already made reduction of childhood obesity a top-of-the-list priority for our work in the community. The foundation will fund more health fairs, new programs and other events where children who might not otherwise be diagnosed as at-risk, can get the information and help they need to start making positive changes in their lives.
The Mat-Su has already begun to take some important steps. We led the state in removing sugary soft drinks and snacks from school hallways. We now have a hospital with state-of-the-art technology and expertise to make sure that Valley residents get the best of health care when they need it. We are proactively working to develop other programs that will lead to reduction of childhood obesity. Please join us in the planning of this strategy by joining our newly formed advisory boards.
I look forward to working with each of you as the Mat-Su Health Foundation provides grants to nonprofit organizations supporting targeted health initiatives and offers scholarships to Valley residents who choose to enter health careers where they can truly make a difference -- perhaps by being the person who comes up with an innovative program or solution to child obesity.
This is one health battle we can win. It's time to start lining up the troops and waging the war.
Vincent Curry is chief executive officer of the Mat-Su Health Foundation, a philanthropic organization launched in 2005 to improve the health of residents throughout the Mat-Su Borough.
