Cook County Receives $16 Million To Fight Obesity

By Anna Deem in News on Mar 21, 2010 5:45PM

On Friday, Cook County was awarded a two-year, $16 million federal grant to help prevent obesity from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Dr. Stephen Martin Jr., the chief operating officer of the county public health department, said to the Chicago Sun-Times that the money will be used for suburban Cook County programs that intend to battle obesity. Martin noted that almost 40 percent of children and 63 percent of adults in the suburbs of Cook County are either obese or overweight, which is more adults than the entire population of Montana--974,989 in July 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

One of the schools selected to receive money was Revere Intermediate School at 12331 S. Gregory St. in Blue Island, chosen because the school focuses on promoting fitness. Cristal Thomas, regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said that a total of $372.8 million in federal money was awarded to 44 different communities nationwide. Cook County Board member Deborah Sims (D-Chicago) also pushed for parents to try and get their children to play outside. "When we were younger, we didn't have the GameBoys or TV time kids have today. We played games outside," Sims said.