NORWICH – At a recent program at Chenango Memorial Hospital, Dr. Christine Olson, professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University, presented information about healthy weight gain in pregnant women and its influence on future obesity. Dr. Olson is director of the Healthy Start Partnership which targets childbearing women and their infants in eight counties: Chenango, Delaware, Fulton, Herkimer, Madison, Montgomery, Otsego, and Schoharie. “The Healthy Start Partnership envisions communities that promote and support healthy lifestyles for women, their children and all young families,” according to Dr. Olson. Dr. Olson has been studying the relationship between pregnancy weight gain and obesity since the early 1990s and she shared what the research data suggests with local health care providers at the gathering on Thursday, May 29. She stressed that prenatal women need to gain a healthy amount of weight for a healthy baby and pointed out that the data show that 41% of women are gaining more than the Institute of Medicine recommends. She also explained and offered two resources to help providers help their patients set and maintain weight gain goals developed by the Institute of Medicine.
Dr. Olson stressed the relationship between food intake and physical activity and pregnancy weight gain. She also commented on the Opportunities for Physical Activity in Chenango County map which highlights recreational resources available throughout the county. The map contains 129 items and also denotes those that are family-oriented and also those which are handicap accessible. Dr. Olson pointed out that those which are handicap accessible are definitely accessible to strollers and carriages as well. Pregnant women and young families should be able to find lots to do locally to stay active as part of a healthy lifestyle.
The recreational opportunities maps are available at Chenango County Cooperative Extension at 99 N. Broad Street in Norwich and in the lobby of Chenango Memorial Hospital at 179 North Broad Street, Norwich as well as local grocery stores, health care providers’ offices, wellness events, schools, and many other locations throughout the county. For more information, call Linda in Chenango Memorial Hospital’s Community Relations Department at 337-4093.
The Healthy Start Partnership is a $1 million, four-year project, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is led by Olson and her colleague Nancy Wells, associate professor of design and environmental analysis at Cornell. Cornell University and the Research Institute of Bassett Healthcare are collaborating on the evaluation of this partnership approach to promoting healthy weights in women and children. For more information on the Healthy Start Partnership and its projects in Chenango and other counties, see www.human.cornell.edu/che/DNS/hsp/current.cfm.