Almost 28 percent of children in Linn County are obese. In Lincoln County the figure is 44 percent. With these alarming numbers in mind, more than 30 people from Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties met on March 30 at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital for a Childhood Obesity Summit to focus on how the three counties can deal with this important health issue. The meeting was a follow-up to a summit held last June.

Samaritan recently received an $85,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help establish the Coast to the Cascades Childhood Obesity Project, which is headed up by JoAnn Miller, Samaritan’s Director of Community Benefit.

“The obesity project includes key leaders from school districts, businesses, hospitals, clinics and the Commission on Children and Families,” Miller said. “Our goal is to examine the kinds of issues impacting childhood obesity. What types of services are already exist? What gaps are there? What are the next steps we can take?”

Some of the goals established by project participants so far include:

• Promoting physical activity in schools through walking programs, rock climbing walls and other opportunities
• Promoting healthy nutrition choices in schools by removing soda and junk food vending machines, developing wellness councils, reducing high-fat, high-sugar entrees and offering salad bars
• Promoting community-wide physical activity through more walking and bike paths, skate parks and other recreation facilities

The project’s next step is to create a planning team with representatives from the counties to develop a regional plan and to identify key activities that can be established.