By RITA CONDON
Program Manager of the Department of Health
Obesity Nutrition and Physical Activity Program

Healthy Kids Healthy Communities – a New Mexico Department of Health program that makes healthy eating and physical activity an easy choice for children and families – is grateful to everyone who helped measure the heights and weights of third-graders and kindergarteners in Los Alamos this fall.

The partnership with schools enables the program to collect children’s BMI (Body Mass Index) to better understand the extent of childhood obesity in New Mexico and effectively guide state and local prevention efforts. The data collected from nearly 8,000 students across the state is used in the annual childhood obesity report.

“We appreciate the school nurses and staff who gave their time and energy to support us during a challenging school year. Thank you to Northern New Mexico College nursing students for diligently following our standardized measurement protocol, and to public health employees who work to improve children and families’ health every day.” –Healthy Kids Healthy Communities