2016 COMMUNITY BENEFIT REPORT
Building Confidence
Summer Camp Promotes Healthy Lifestyles
Olayemi and her twin sister , Olayemisi , both 14 , participated in Children ’ s Hospital Colorado ’ s Camp Champions the summer of 2016 at the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center , after being referred from Children ’ s Colorado ’ s Lifestyle Medicine program .
Olayemi and Olayemisi say that , because of camp , they eat more vegetables , stretch every day and are more active , always trying to “ fill the bar ” on their activity tracker . “ You fill the bar on your activity tracker when you get over an hour of exercise a day . We compete with each other to see who will fill the bar first ,” says Olayemi .
Children who are overweight and obese are at a greater risk for summer weight gain . So as part of the goal of obesity prevention and health promotion , Children ’ s Colorado launched the Camp Champions program in 2015 to address accelerated summer weight gain in youth . This weeklong program for underserved , low income youth incorporates activities and curriculum from existing programs to engage youth in continuous physical activity while learning about goal setting , teamwork , nutrition and healthy lifestyles .
“ The campers are exposed to a variety of physical activities and hands-on cooking lessons throughout the week ,” says Laura Retzer , Camp Champions coordinator .
A typical day includes morning stretching , goal setting , fun physical activities like capture the flag or “ Olympics ”, lessons on sleep , stress management and healthy eating , yoga , gardening , cooking and much more . Camp participants log an average of 19,272 steps per day at camp .
“ The goal is to engage youth in healthy lifestyle activities in a fun way that they and their parents or caregivers will positively respond to and continue after camp ends ,” says Eve Kutchman , Healthy Kids strategist .
Thanks to sponsorship from Transamerica , campers attend the program for a nominal fee , and receive physical activity trackers and workbooks they keep after camp ends .
“ There are a lot of recipes we learned at camp that we make at home now , like Asian salad with chicken , bean salad and turkey wraps with avocado ,” describes Olayemisi . “ But my favorite are the pancakes — healthy pancakes . We used whole wheat oats and orange juice instead of milk . And we got to flip them !”
Camp participants log an average of
19,272 steps
per day at camp
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