St. Ignace and other hospitals and health centers in the Upper Peninsula will receive nearly $150,000 to combat childhood obesity.

"Childhood obesity has become an epidemic, nationally, and is especially prevalent in rural communities," said Congressman Bart Stupak, who annouced the grant last week. "This epidemic is responsible for a whole range of health problems later in life, such as diabetes and high blood pressure."

The program will assist parents and their children to manage healthy eating, screen residents for risk factors associated with obesity, and conduct a 12-week class for atrisk children and their families. Physicians, nurses, behavioral health specialists, and exercise specialists will be brought in to help children adopt a healthier lifestyle, and resourced at Marquette Gneral Hospital will be shred with rural facilities through teleconferencing.

"Thirty percent of children between the ages of 5 and 19 in the Upper Peninsula are obese or overweight," said Laura Frisch, a family nurse practitioner with Helen Newberry Joy Hospital in Newberry. "This funding will allow us to adopt, in rural communities like Newberry, strategies that have been successfully utilized in larger cities to educate children about the dangers of being overweight."

"If we can instill healthy living and eating in children at a young age," said Mr. Stupak, "they will stay active and eat right throughout their lives."

The program will be used at Mackinac Straits Hospital in St. Ignace, Helen Newberry Joy Hospital, and Marquette General.