C-M Tera Brownlee checks 7th grader Chris Miller’s weight

To promote healthy attitudes and living among students in their schools, nurses at the Canon-McMillan school district have a new resource at their disposal.

As in school districts across the state, Canon-McMillan nurses are now required to perform body mass index (BMI) measurements of their students. This requirement is in keeping with a Pennsylvania Department of Health mandate together with the department’s growth-screening program.

While taking the height and weight of school-age children at the beginning of each grade level is nothing new for public schools, a greater awareness of the risk factors for childhood obesity has led to an increased interest in developing new strategies geared to catch early-warning signs of obesity.

Just as efforts have been made to promote healthier-eating choices (banning soda, candy and cookies from school vending machines and cafeteria lunchroom lines, for example), the introduction of BMI percentile reports at schools is the most recent attempt to promote healthier living among students. The measurement of body mass screens for both overweight and underweight conditions and associated risks. An overweight student has an increased risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and certain cancers. Heart problems, loss of bone mass and anemia are all risk factors for an underweight student. An underweight condition may also be a sign of an underlying eating disorder.

A BMI calculation for school-age kids takes into account the age and likely growth patterns, in addition to the sex, height and weight of the individual. Because of this, the growth-screening program in schools requires plotting the BMI on a growth chart.
In its initial run-through, BMI reports were given to students in kindergarten through 4th grade. This year, the program will include grades 5 through 8 and 2007-08 will include high school students.

At Canon-McMillan schools, district nurse Jaime Read is responsible for fulfilling the requirements for the BMI reporting at South Central and First Street elementary schools.

“Our first year went very well and we’re looking forward to this time around. We’ve been calculating the BMI reports which are then sent home to parents,” says Read.

This year, in addition to elementary students, middle school students will be included in the screenings. Susan Vulcano is the nurse at Canonsburg Middle School.

“The BMI is a nice tool for determining if students are doing well physically and on the right track. It can signal warning signs, but it is just a tool. The results and what they mean are not cut in stone,” notes Vulcano.

While viewed by nurses as a helpful instrument, Vulcano said that interpreting the BMI can be more uncertain in cases where students are involved in athletics and therefore have higher muscle mass. In those circumstances the results of the BMI may be less helpful.

Washington County Health Partners is an organization that works with schools and other area districts to help in the first steps of the implementation of this program. Lee Rutledge-Falcione is executive director for the organization.

“It was our goal to try to give useful tools to the schools and to nurses who have to administer these screenings.

We knew this would be a huge undertaking for schools and wanted to do whatever we could to give them the help they needed,” Rutledge-Falcione observes.

One of the most important aspects in the success of BMI reporting is the education of parents, observes Sandy Hoffman, a nurse at the facility. “If you can’t educate the parents on the importance of healthy living, you’re going to have a hard time getting through to a second grader.”

Now in its second year, the growth-screening program has been successfully accepted in local schools. The struggle to help students live healthier, though, is ongoing.

“I think this program will make people aware of the issue of childhood obesity and hopefully bring attention to what they are eating,” says Read. “It is surprising how many students are interested and excited about this and amazing to see how much they enjoy learning about being and eating healthier. I think this is a helpful program and truly will make a difference.”