| |
Play Lean Team Welcome Video
The Lean Team is a partnership between the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Division of Adolescent Medicine, and the Charleston County School District (CCSD). Our goal is the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity through individual, family, and community change.
Obesity is a new problem for children and adolescents that has rapidly become the most important cause of current and future morbidity and mortality. In South Carolina, 1/4 of our children are obese, a prevalence that has increased over 200% during the last 30 years. Obese children become obese adults suffering from the consequences of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors including obesity, high blood pressure, high blood lipids and diabetes. Metabolic syndrome increases the risk four fold for stroke, heart disease, and kidney disease. Today, health care costs each man, woman, and child approximately $7,000 annually. A lifetime of obesity will cause significant escalation of that societal expense. To address these alarming trends, the South Carolina Children’s Hospital Collaborative has created the South Carolina Institute for Childhood Obesity and Related Disorders (SCICORD). Funded through The Duke Endowment, the University of South Carolina Department of Pediatrics in Columbia, the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, the Greenville Hospital Systems in Greenville, and the McLeod Children’s Hospital in Florence are working together to find solutions to this impending crisis. Through funding through the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (Medicaid), The Lean Team in Charleston is building on partnerships to assess lifestyle and health risk, provide support and resources to those at greatest risk, and to promote school health campaigns. |
