December 6, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPRING LAKE'S LAKESHORE FAMILY CARE RECEIVES MOA CORE GRANT FOR CHILDHOOD OBESITY PREVENTION PROGRAM

Okemos, Michigan— Timothy Kval, D.O., Gregory Stempky, D.O., and the staff at Lakeshore Family Care in Spring Lake are the recipients of a Michigan Osteopathic Association (MOA) Core Grant. Lakeshore received the grant in support of its office-based childhood obesity prevention program Children's Healthy Activity and Meal Plan (CHAMP).

“Our CHAMP program is a year-long, clinic-run rewards program designed to illicit change in children's behavior toward routine healthy eating and exercising. We used the success of the ‘ prize in the cereal box’ or the “play arcade games to win tickets and then exchange the tickets for prizes’ incentive programs and applied them to a healthy choices and lifestyle program,” said Dr. Kval.

The CHAMP program provides participating families with information, tips and recipes each month as well as rewards for those children who meet monthly goals for exercise and healthy eating. To keep participants committed to the year-long program, prizes and incentives increase each month progressing from stickers and sporting goods store coupons to basketballs, sleds and raffles for autographed sports memorabilia.

“We were really looking for a way to attack this problem of obesity. Instead of just educating, we’re trying to implement lifestyle changes in a more aggressive, proactive manner,” Dr. Kval said.

The Michigan Osteopathic Association established its MOA Core Grant program in 2007 to assist those osteopathic physicians who are taking the initiative to host health programs or clinics that embody the osteopathic values of prevention, wellness, and primary care–the core of good health. Lakeshore Family Care is one of four groups to receive a grant from this inaugural program.

The Michigan Osteopathic Association represents more than 7,000 osteopathic physicians and students and promotes osteopathic medicine in Michigan by shaping the health care delivery system to better serve the community. To learn more about the MOA and osteopathic medicine, visit the MOA website at www.mi-osteopathic.org.

Lakeshore Family Care, a member of Mercy General Health Partner’s Primary Care Network, is a primary care medical practice treating patients from newborns to seniors. With a goal to “provide comprehensive, quality health care in a timely fashion,” Drs. Stempky and Kval are board certified in family medicine and work to provide efficient, quality medical care to all patients. To learn more about Lakeshore Family Care, visit their website at www.lakeshorefamilycare.com.