For a lot of people, a trip to the grocery store is more of a chore than a fun outing.
But for the children in a local therapy program, a trip to the Northgate Gonzales Market in Chula Vista brought smiles and laughter as they cruised through the aisles of fresh produce and canned goods.
The children are in a six-week pilot program provided by the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency’s California Children Services. The goal of the program is to teach the children and their families how to prevent obesity through healthy eating and physical exercise. The Medical Therapy Unit of California Children Services provides occupational and physical therapy for children with eligible conditions such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy and spinal cord injuries.
In addition to the market field trip, the program gave the children a chance to learn some karate moves, get a lesson in tap dancing, tour an organic farm and visit the Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center in National City, which provides hands-on science, gardening and cooking lessons.
“We wanted to do activities that would increase physical activity for the children and teach them an overall awareness of nutrition,” said Kristen Dimou, chief of occupational and physical therapy. “This is part of the County’s efforts through Live Well, San Diego! to help all residents become healthy, safe and thriving.”
The program culminated with the trip to Northgate Market. A community partner in the program, Network for a Healthy California, led the children in simple, easy exercises that incorporated a nutrition lesson about fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods. The activities had fun names like the cucumber crunch, the mandarin march and the grape grab.
The children and their families were also able to sample a few healthy snacks and received cookbooks with nutritious recipes.
The same program was also piloted at the California Children Services Medical Therapy Unit in Vista. A total of 18 children participated.
