June 14, 2010

AWDA Partners with Physical Therapists to Promote Healthy Living

The “Performance Enhancement Program”, held at the Atlanta Human Performance Center (AHPC), with approximately 10 youth employed in the program ranging from the ages of 14 to 15 is teaching youth the importance of healthy lifestyles. The program focuses on the prevention of childhood obesity, and the coexisting medical conditions that come along with it, such as hypertension, diabetes, blindness, and more.
However, this program not only covers the physical health, but provides the interns math and science classes along with their daily exercises. According to Dr. Keith Evans, a physical therapist at AHPC, this helps them to keep track of their Body Mass Index, also known as BMI.  
The interns planted a vegetable garden as part of the enrichment program the students.  They will maintain their own vegetable garden, reflecting on Michelle Obama’s vision of conquering childhood obesity.      
The Cultural Competencies component reinforces the importance of socialization, through proper etiquette practices.  The work experience gained by the youth will provide an opportunity for the interns to examine their lifestyles and hopefully will allow them to examine other non traditional careers in the medical field.