California Kids Healthier With Help of Two HCA Hospitals

Janine Henderson, a young schoolteacher at Thomas P. Ryan Elementary School in East San Jose, California can personally validate the oft-quoted idea, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Earlier this year, she shared her concerns about the increasing number of obese and sedate schoolchildren with her aunt, Beth Smith, president of the Los Gatos, California Rotary Club. She probably didn’t realize that her search for an answer would set off a positive chain of events involving students and teachers at her school, parents, two HCA hospitals, a local fitness company, Rotarians and many other members of the community.

In a news report earlier this year in The San Jose Mercury News, reporter Joe Rodriguez tells how an investment in safety cones, jump ropes and dodge balls by Good Samaritan Hospital and Regional Medical Center of San Jose has helped produced healthier families. One of the statistics that initially proved to Henderson that the children at her school were in poor physical shape was the fact that only seven of the school’s 90 fifth graders passed the annual President’s Physical Fitness Test in 2008.

“Hey Mom, let’s go to P.E.!” details the goals and successes of the Weekend Family Fitness Program which introduced dozens of Ryan families and teachers to the benefits of playing games and sports and getting regular exercise.