Black Jet Theory – Volume 2020-11 – Is the Healthcare System Broken? Part VI – Where Does the Healthcare System Intersect Education?
July 10, 2020 by Marshall Snipes
“Since 1980, obesity rates among teens ages 12 to 19 quadrupled, from 5% to 20.6%”.[i] According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System in 2017, 75% of high school students do not meet the daily recommendation for physical activity, 43% spend “three or more hours per day (for something that was not school work on an average school day) on a computer, and 20.7% watched three or more hours per day of television (on an average school day).[ii] The surge in obesity since 1980, at the adult level, is even worse. In 2019, total adult obesity for ages above 19 increased from 30.5% in 1999 to 42.4% in 2018.[iii] And we spend 29% more taking care of obese people when they get sick, which is inordinately more often than those who are not obese.[iv]
Common sense, the Black Jet Theory,[v] would seem to dictate that the more obese younger people are, the increasingly more obese they become as they age. That trend is alarming when you consider the additional health care resources obese people consume once they age. The purpose here is not to shame obese people, but rather to apply a common-sense approach to solving the obesity problem on a long-term basis. Common sense would further dictate that we have to focus on those below the age of 13. That is not to say that there aren’t concerns about adult and teenage obesity but rather focus on those below 13 years of age who as they age would have the opportunity to bend the obesity curve on a long-term basis.
Because the target group defined above are school aged children, presuming they are in school, the intersection of health care and education would seem to be an opportunity to provide solutions. Most people believe that many of the world’s problems can be solved through education. If that’s true, why have we not as a society made education about one’s health a priority? Why have we eliminated physical education from the curriculum of grade schools? Why do we promote unhealthy food and drink through vending machines in the schools? If we tell adults to exercise, eat properly and get plenty of sleep to impact their health, why in the world are we not teaching our children at the youngest ages the importance of those activities?
There are bigger issues in society besides lack of education that have caused obesity. Those issues are for another day. The purpose here is to outline some common-sense ideas to bend the obesity curve in the opposite direction from where it is today. It seems to me that four areas of focus need to be addressed (1) physical activity, (2) nutrition, (3) access to a school nurse and (4) classroom training.
When John F. Kennedy, Jr. was elected President of the United States, he made physical fitness a priority by changing the name of the President’s Council on Youth Fitness to President’s Council of Physical Fitness. In the 1960’s childhood obesity was not an issue. At the high school I attended, students either played sports or went to gym class. Physical activity was required. Those who attended gym classes didn’t necessarily like the class, but they may not have liked chemistry either. It’s all part of the learning process, learning how to be a productive member of society. We’ve learned a lot since the 60’s. We know that you don’t have to train for a marathon to get adequate levels of activity. We know that walking and movement of any kind enhances health. We know that hours of inactivity in front of a television or computer screen is not healthy. As a society we have enabled bad behavior from an early age and the educational system has done little to help. The common-sense solution seems obvious. Physical activity has to be restored to the curriculum on a daily basis from the first grade thru high school.
On February 10, 2010, first lady Michelle Obama announced her campaign, Let’s Move, with a goal of “solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight. Let’s Move sought to decrease childhood obesity to 5% by 2030”.[vi] The program was based on nutrition and physical activity. On the same date, President Obama created the Task Force on Childhood Obesity which had five goals: creating a healthy start for children, empowering parents and caregivers, providing healthy food in schools, improving access to healthy, affordable foods and increasing physical activity.[vii] This was, seemingly, a worthwhile effort with admirable goals and the backing at that time of a popular president. It didn’t work. There are varying viewpoints on why this effort quietly went away, from pushback by the food and drink industry, to underfunding and poor management. Regardless of the reason, it went away. It or some version of it, needs to come back. The intersection with the education system starts with the food and drink that our children are given access to. So why wouldn’t we provide healthy food and drink? There are plenty of excuses: from the parents who want their kids to have sugary drinks to the schools who are generally underfunded and who make money off the vending machines.
Almost all schools both public and private complain of being underfunded. The reality of the shortage of money going into the classroom is a major concern. However, if we want to impact the health status of our children on a long-term basis, we have to take care of them when they are in our charge. The Stanley F. Hupfeld Academy, a private charter school in Oklahoma City provides the model. Hupfeld is the only charter school in America that the qualification to enroll is that you live in the neighborhood where Hupfeld is located. Hupfeld’s students are from low income families. 100% of the students are on the school lunch program. Health for the Hupfeld students is a challenge. Hupfeld is owned by a local hospital system which provides a full-time nurse on site. Access to medical care especially for low income families is a well-documented problem in the United States. By providing healthcare services at the educational facility, health status is improved, absences are less, and learning is enhanced. As Nico Gomez, the former CEO of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the state’s Medicaid agency said, “healthy learners make healthy earners”.
Healthcare has become a major political issue in this country for several reasons: not everyone has equal access, healthcare has become too expensive and its personal. Health is personal because at some point in time most people get sick and/or have a major medical episode. If health is so important, why don’t we teach health in school? Not everyone needs to be trained in pre-med, but there is a level of information that is critically important to one’s health. Common-sense would seem to imply that we should teach health in school. It seems a lot more important to me as an adult to understand the details of nutrition, why physical activity is important and how to access the healthcare system, than to remember what a square root is or why I did a science fair project. Not that those learnings are not important on some level, but life skills seem to take a back seat to other formal educational priorities. At what age, what level and the details of what and when to teach, I’ll leave to others, but Black Jet would say this is important. You never know but exposing our children to proper life skills that impact health may just produce the next generation of physicians and nurses.
The long-term solution to the problem of poor health status in this country is painfully obvious. We know what to do – exercise, eat healthy and have access to healthcare services. If we are to have a long-term impact, the Black Jet Theory suggests that we provide to our school children, physical activity programs, healthy food in our lunchrooms, access to a school nurse and classroom teaching to address life skills that impact health. It’s a societal problem. We just need the political courage to execute these ideas.
Don’t take my word for it, think for yourself. If you would like to subscribe to Black Jet Theory, please email your request to [email protected]
[i] “Obesity Rates and Trend Data – Fast Facts” State of Childhood Obesity. https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/data/
[ii] “Physical Activity Among U.S. High School Students” State of Childhood Obesity. https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/high-school-physical-activity/. And “YRBSS Results, Slides and MMWR Publications 2017 High School Results” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/results.htm
[iii] “Prevalence of Obesity and Severe Obesity Among Adults: United States, 2017-2018” by Craig M. Hales, M.D., Margaret D. Carroll M.S.P.H., Cheryl D. Fryar, M.S.P.H., and Cynthia L. Ogden, PhD. National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db360.htm
[iv] “Obesity drives U.S. health care costs up by 29%, varies by state” based on research by John Cawley, professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell University February 8, 2018. Science Daily Products – Data Briefs – Number 360 – February 2020.
[v] The Black Jet Theory is “the notion that most of what currently happens, when viewed through the filter of common sense and critical thinking, leads to a different conclusion, than the widespread view of current thinking by those who control the dissemination and content of information (academia, the media, politicians and other “experts”)”. “Black Jet – Volume 2020-1, May 1, 2020” by Marshall Snipes.
[vi] “Let’s Move” President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition. Retrieved April 6, 2012. The website www.letsmove.gov is no longer available.
[vii] “White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report to the President”. Let’s Move. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. The website www.letsmove.gov is no longer available.