St. Joseph Health System Fights Childhood Obesity with

it’s New Healthy For Life Campaign Video

Battling childhood obesity just got easier for more than 1,500 Orange County youth thanks to the new Healthy For Life Campaign, a comprehensive social and healthcare outreach initiative developed by St. Joseph Health System (SJHS).

With the alarming trend of childhood obesity rates growing throughout the county, St. Joseph Health System has partnered with American Academy of Pediatrics to fight this troubling issue with the creation of a new comprehensive campaign that focuses on getting kids and their families to develop healthy lifestyle choices by incorporating both physical activity and a responsible diet.

To help get the message out, SJHS has created a new video to promote the campaign and drive traffic to the Web site, www.healthyforlifeonline.org, to get more information. The 30 second video will be playing at the home games of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the rest of the season. At the August 29^th Angels’ game, Healthy For Life backpacks will be handed out to school age youth who attend the game.

As part of Healthy For Life, students in more than 47 Orange County schools participate in a free, curriculum-based physical education program that instills the importance of fitness and nutrition to obtain optimum and long-lasting healthy results. A physician and dietician from one of the SJHS local hospitals go to each participating school to help educate the students.

For the nutritional component of Healthy For Life, SJHS has partnered with celebrity Mexican food chefs Jaime Martín del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu, owners of the award-winning restaurant La Casita Mexicana, to developed a series of recipes for children and their families that are easy, taste great and healthy. These new recipes can be downloaded for free on the campaign Web site. For the recipes and to get more information about Healthy For Life, log on to www.healthyforlifeonline.org.

St. Joseph Health System (SJHS) is an integrated healthcare delivery organization that exists to extend the healing ministry of Jesus in the tradition of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange. SJHS provides a broad range of medical services within three geographic regions -- Northern California, Southern California and West Texas/Eastern New Mexico. The system family is enriched by the services of more than 24,000 employees and includes 14 hospitals and three home health agencies, as well as hospice care, outpatient services, skilled nursing facilities and physician organizations. In 2008, SJHS provided more than $267 million in community benefit and care for the poor services. For more information on St. Joseph Health System, log on to www.stjoe.org.