Kids@Heart is a collaborative initiative led by St. Charles Health System. We are a group of community partners looking ot address the growing problem of childhood overweight and obesity in Central Oregon. According to the US National Center for Health Statistics, the number of overweight young people in the US has more than tripled since 1980. Overweight and obesity also continues to affect adults as over 60% of adults in the US are overweight or obese.

The coalition began meeting in 2004 as a special interest subcommittee of the longstanding Central Oregon Health Council, a group also sponsored by St. Charles. The group was formed to “promote the health and well-being of Central Oregon by fostering collaboration, integration, local control and building on the strengths of the community.”

With funding from a grant from the Northwest Health Foundation in 2006 the coalition became know as Healthy Active Central Oregon (HACO). Understanding that there is a window to address obesity among young people ages 0-8, our coalition is evolving again to zero in on childhood overweight and obesity for the compounding health benefits that result when children and youth adopt healthy eating and active living as part of their daily lives.

Kids@Heart has engaged agencies and organizations from throughout the region that have an interest in developing an integrated plan to address the issues of poor nutrition and physical inactivity at the community, neighborhood and street level.

Kids@Heart meetings are held quarterly at St. Charles Bend. For more information, contact Kate Wells at 541-706-4789 or kmwells@stcharleshealthcare.org.

Vision statement: Advocating for a healthy, active Central Oregon

Mission statement:

Community partners working together to advocate for healthy food choices and active lifestyles for all Central Oregonian children, youths and families.

------Making the healthy choice the easy choice----