KIWEE Institute's focus at research campus: Fighting childhood obesity

By: Ben Mcneely | Independent Tribune
Published: February 04, 2009

Kannapolis --

Childhood obesity is widely seen in the public health arena as at epidemic levels.
And with David Murdock pouring his fortune into the North Carolina Research Campus to fight expanding waistlines, child day care centers are soon going to be at the forefront of the fight against obesity.
Understanding childhood nutrition is among the research interests the Cabarrus Health Alliance is pursuing for its research programs at the campus.
Paige Waldrop, executive director of the alliance's Public Health Research Institute, said fighting obesity is challenging because it involves changing people's habits.
"In children, it is more challenging because they don't control all their choices, their parents do," she said. "So you have to educate the parents about healthy eating."
This interest is where the KIWEE Institute — which stands for Kids Involved in Wellness, Education and Enrichment — comes in. It's a child care center, to be located on the research campus, focused on fighting childhood obesity. The institute would use the latest scientific information about childhood nutrition in its curriculum, Public Health Director Fred Pilkington said.
"The one aspect of running day care centers we're interested in is how to introduce a healthy diet to children and what impact that will have on their development," he said.
The KIWEE Institute would be a "model day care center," where kids and parents would be involved with the latest in nutrition research, Waldrop said. The research that comes from campus could be implemented at the day care center and shared with other child care facilities in the area.
"If the parents don't have the education, the children certainly won't get it," Waldrop said. "There are a lot of public health initiatives on childhood obesity and a lot of them are in schools. We need to get to them at younger age."
The idea for the KIWEE Institute is Waldrop's invention. She started working on the concept in late 2007 when she and a group of public health workers from the health alliance were enrolled in UNC-Chapel Hill's public health management academy.
"As part of the program, we had to develop a business plan for a revenue-generating program that worked on a public health issue," she said.
Waldrop's passions lie with fighting childhood obesity, so she pitched the idea to her work group and the plan grew from there. She and Pilkington started meeting with potential partners around the campus. Dr. Steve Zeisel, director of the UNC Nutrition Research Institute, embraced the plan enthusiastically, Waldrop said, and so have some researchers at the campus who would like to observe the children as part of research projects.
"As we got further into the development process, we said this could also be a research facility, where researchers can come and observe the children," Waldrop said.
Eventually, Waldrop and Pilkington met with Murdock's lieutenant, Lynne Scott Safrit and Murdock himself about the plan in February 2008.
"They had planned to have a day care center on the campus," Waldrop said. "Fred and I presented the plan and he [Murdock] loved it. He put an architect on developing a building."
As of now, the KIWEE Institute will be on the campus, as opposed to the new health alliance building, which will be across Loop Road. And the center will take in about 150 kids, ages 0 to 5 years old, to begin with and at a tuition rate that is competitive and comparable to day care centers in the area, Waldrop said.
The only thing missing: Partners and start-up money, which Waldrop and Pilkington are working to get.
"We're looking for one main partner to help with start-up funding for the first three or four years," she said. "But then, after that, with tuition and fees, it should be self-sustaining."
• Contact reporter Ben McNeely: 704-789-9131
• Comment on this story online at www.independenttribune.com

KIWEE Institute's focus at research campus: Fighting childhood obesity

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