Erie Family Health Center

When we think of the United States of America, there might be a few key pictures that enter our minds:  baseball, apple pie and…fast food?  Over the years, fast food has become associated with American culture.  Children especially have come to associate fast food with rewards, special days and celebrations.  Whether it is the fun toys, the play places or the mesmerizing advertisements, there is a certain spark about fast food that draws children in – and continues drawing them in through adulthood.

Courtesy of Huffington Post

Fast food, as well as the large variety of sugary and fattening junk food that adorns grocery store shelves, has played a large part in the child obesity epidemic witnessed over the years within the U.S.  It might come as a surprise, then, that a study recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics found that child obesity rates have actually slowed in growth over the past several years. Despite these results, there is little reason to celebrate.  We still live in a nation where a third of our children are obese and in African American and Latino communities, the number reaches nearly 50%.

In the State of the Union Address given by President Obama last Wednesday, he mentioned a national movement to address the issue of childhood obesity, which will be led by the First Lady, Michelle Obama. Mrs. Obama recently announced her initiative to combat childhood obesity at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington D.C., where she was discussing the issue.

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Like many community health center advocates around the country, I waited patiently during last night’s State of the Union speech for President Obama to discuss health care reform. All week I had heard many rumors about what would or would not be said about health care reform during this important speech. It was nearly 30 minutes and 3,000 words before I heard: “health insurance reform.” A sense of relief rushed over me: it was clear that the President was not abandoning his pledge to reform health care.

Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune

Packaging health reform with a slightly different name – health insurance reform – President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to passing health care reform legislation. “Here’s what I ask Congress, though: Don’t walk away from reform. Not now. Not when we are so close. Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people. Let’s get it done,” said Obama. The President acknowledged that even as he was speaking, more individuals would go without health insurance and that Congress needed to take action to relieve the American people. (more…)