Church Health Summit aimed at preventing childhood obesity
Posted by: dtt on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 01:00 AM
SOUTHAVEN – One’s physical body is also a temple, according to the Scriptures.
On Aug. 12, pastors and lay persons from all denominations will come together for one cause, childhood obesity prevention, to cleanse the temple of impurities.
“The church has always tried to encourage a wholeness of faith and spirituality and taking care of our bodies,” said the Rev. Robert A. “Chip” Hatcher, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Hernando. “In Romans, Paul uses the phrase presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord,” added Hatcher. “We need to counter the culture’s obsession with food no matter how unhealthy it is,” Hatcher said. Hatcher said recreation is an important part of his congregation’s youth ministry. For several years, fitness classes were held inside First Presbyterian Church each morning. “I’m hoping this summit will help us learn how to become more healthy.”
Other pastors and churches will also participate in the summit.
“Just as Jesus ministered holistic to the masses through both His messages of hope and miracles of healing, the faith community must be proactive in impacting our community’s spiritual and physical well-being”, said Rev. Bartholomew Orr, pastor of Brown Baptist Church in Southaven. His congregation is working toward a healthier lifestyle through weekly aerobics, a monthly focus on a health issue through the Sunday Bulletin, blood drives, health workshops and seminars, networking patients with health providers especially when insurance is an issue and utilizing the church’s new gymnasium and two exercise/fitness rooms.
As part of the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi’s GET A LIFE! My Life, My Health, My Choice! Program, the faith-based summit is one of three that is being planned to provide resources and prevention tools.
“We’re trying to make a difference,” said Peggy Linton, Community Health Council chairman. Linton spoke before the Hernando Rotary Club on Wednesday. “We are reaching out to schools, churches, day care centers and whoever has children.”
The first summit, School Health Councils Summit, was held on July 21 at the Board of Education’s Central Office where over 70 school principals, teachers and others interested in preventing childhood obesity attended.
The Faith-Based Health Summit will be held at the DeSoto Central High School beginning at 8:30 a.m. with registration and breakfast followed by the program at 9 a.m. Keynote speaker will be Rosetta Swinton, RN, AME Health Coordinator in Charleston, South Carolina. Swinton has 28 years in faith-based health education and community health coordination. She was appointed Director of Health of the Seventh Episcopal District Health Commission of South Carolina in July 2000 and has implemented a statewide health ministry in the AME church with a team of Health Directors. In October of 2005, the AME Health Ministry received national recognition form the National Governors’ Association as a best practice health model for the nation by Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. In May of 2006, the program received the Healthy South Carolina award from Gov. Mark Sanford for the best faith-based health model in the state. Ms. Swinton is a full-time nurse at MUSC, Department of Medicine, Office of Special Initiatives and Department of Rheumatology Lupus Project, the web site administrator for health-e-ame.com, and editor of Health Matters Newsletter, and the author of numerous health articles for local and national publications. She is a member of Charity AME Church, in Huger, South Carolina, where she currently serves as a member of the ministerial staff, Steward Emeritus, Health Director, Director of Christian Education, Church School teacher and Public Relations member.
“One of the main goals of the Community Health Council in hosting the Faith-Based Health Summit is to provide resources to our local churches; something they can take back to their congregations and begin a Wellness Program,” Linton said. “Swinton will bring with her ideas and approaches on wellness that churches can take back with them and immediately implement with their congregation". “With GET A LIFE! we are using a holistic approach in reaching our target ages of three – twelve year olds and their parents in any place they might be: schools, churches and work sites. We are in the process of planning a Business Health Summit.”
The Faith-Based Health Summit is sponsored by the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi and hosted by the Community Health Council, a group of volunteer leaders from around the county dedicated to addressing health and quality of life issues and barriers in the county beginning with childhood obesity prevention. The Council was established in 2005 and is overseeing the GET A LIFE! Program with Dr. Julio Arancibia serving as the Health Consultant.
“Obesity is an epidemic of a disease in America,” Arancibia said. “From the 1970s until now, obesity has grown faster and faster in the U.S.,” Arancibia said
“People who become obese lose between five to six years of their lives. In my humble opinion, there is only one thing we can do—prevention.”
Robert Lee Long / Community Editor
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