Introduction
Obesity is a chronic condition that is increasing rapidly in children. Obese children have body weights that surpass the level that is considered healthy for their age and height. In the recent past, the number of obese children has increased rapidly in major cities. This paper will give a demographic analysis of obese children in San Diego, California. Further, the paper will give an outlay of the healthcare costs, healthcare challenges, healthcare services, and wellness programs about the chronic condition.
Demographic data
San Diego County has a population of more than 3 million people from different ethnic groups. The physically unfit residents of San Diego County have different family statuses and different educational levels. Of the population, about 50% of the adults are either overweight or obese, whereas, 30% of the 5th, 7th, and 9th-grade children are obese. The students’ obesity statistics vary from one race to another, where, the Asians and White children are considered to have better fitness standards than children from the other races. About 41% of the whites and 40% of the Asian children meet the fitness standards. On the other hand, only 23.2% of the Latino’s children meet the heath fitness standards, and about 21.8% of the Hispanic’s children aged between five and nineteen years are obese (Serpas, Brandstein, McKennett, & Hillidge, 2013). From a critical view, it is evident that a great percentage of the non-white residents of San Diego are unemployed, and thus they have low incomes. The non-white parents with substandard education offer their children reckless lifestyles that increase their chances of becoming obese.
Healthcare costs
Whenever children become obese at their tender ages, the burden is shared out with the taxpayers. Heart diseases, stroke, type II diabetes, and lung diseases are some of the diseases associated with obesity. Every year, the San Diego County government spends about 4 billion dollars of taxpayer money to treat chronic diseases that are associated with diabetes in children (Serpas et al., 2013). The outpatient visit expenditures, prescription drug expenditures, and emergency room expenditures are examples of additional healthcare costs for obese children, which are $320 higher than the expenditures on normal weighted children for every hospital visit. Children are very fragile to handle, and health care service providers have difficulties dealing with obese children. Health care institutions in San Diego will have to establish additional outpatient and emergency rooms for children with chronic diseases associated with diabetes. The pediatricians, nurses, and other healthcare service providers working in the pediatrics section would have to work for extra hours to meet the demand of the rising number of children with chronic conditions associated with obesity. Generally, the health care costs and services will rise considerably with a rise in the number of obese children.
Health care-related challenges
As stated before, obesity increases the probability of having lifestyle diseases like diabetes, stroke, and high blood pressure. Of course, healthcare costs and the number of prescriptions drug would increase considerably, and these are the two major healthcare-related challenges in children. It would be more costly to maintain obese children than children who are physically fit. Essentially, children who are obese during their early years of life (6-19 years) undergo various additional healthcare costs as compared to normal or underweight children. Outpatient health care costs would be about $194; the prescription drugs would cost approximately $114, while the emergency room expenditures would be around $12 for every hospital visit (Finkelstein, Fiebelkorn, & Wang, 2003). The healthcare institutions in San Diego would have to spend about $14.1 billion per annum to treat chronic diseases associated with diabetes in children. In addition to the care given at the hospitals, the health care providers would have to deliver home medical care for the fatally ill children.
Wellness program
San Diego County executives noticed the adverse consequences of the chronic obesity condition that was interfering with the San Diegans’ children. They set out to offer services that would help the county to reduce the health care expenses related to obesity. The “Live Well San Diego” wellness program is a great example of a wellness program that guided the San Diegan children into living healthy, safe, and thriving lifestyles. Healthcare providers in San Diego were obligated to build better service delivery systems. The main objective of the health care service was to support positive health care choices and change of lifestyles. The government obliged the Health and Human Service Agency (HHSA) of San Diego aimed to engage children of different age groups in adopting an active lifestyle for ten years. From the beginning of the year 2010, all government entities and businesses were to work together to create “Accountable Care Communities” that would breed healthy children to serve the succeeding generation. Research done by the University of California in 2012 revealed that San Diego County had reduced obesity in children by 3.7%. Essentially, that was the largest reduction ever reported in Southern California. The “Live Well San Diego” wellness program will play a great role in reducing healthcare costs. At a reduced rate of 3.7% every two years, San Diego County government will have reduced its expenses on obese children to about $11.49 billion by the end of the 10th year.
Service and marketing needs
From the demographic data, it is evident that a given class of individuals is exposing their children to reckless lifestyles that endanger their lives. The best approach to reach the intended audience is to broadcast health and wellness education through various media outlets. The Latinos and the Hispanic parents should be educated on the various approaches to ensure that their children live healthy lifestyles. Children’s aerobic demonstrations should be aired on specific days when children are likely to watch the television. Lastly, the teachers that handle children aged between 5-17 years should be encouraged to emphasize physical education lessons.
Addressing the challenge
As evident from the discussions, every individual in San Diego County society is affected by the obesity tragedy in children. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the entire community to address the issue. It is recommendable that the Nutrition in Healthcare Leadership Team (NHLT) promotes healthcare wellness across the county. NHLT comprises wellness professionals who address the obesity epidemic in children, and currently, every San Diegan is aware of the obesity epidemic. Parents and the teachers who are the core people with more contact time with the children than anybody else ought to ensure that the children are involved in vigorous activities that facilitate their healthy lifestyles. Moreover, children ought to learn how to take responsibility for their lives (Barlow, 2007). Finally, the hospital systems and the community should make it their obligation to advocate for the provision of healthy meals in all food joints in San Diego.
References
Barlow, S.E. (2007). Expert committee recommendations regarding the prevention, assessment, and treatment of child and adolescent overweight and obesity: Summary report. Pediatrics, 120(1), 164-192.
Finkelstein, E.A., Fiebelkorn, I.C., & Wang, G. (2003). National medical spending attributable to overweight and obesity: How much, and who’s paying? Health Affairs, 11(4), 219-226.
Serpas, S., Brandstein, K., McKennett, M., & Hillidge, S. (2013). San Diego healthy weight collaborative: A systems approach to address childhood obesity. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 24(2), 80-96.