Oakwood Healthcare Supports Downriver Family YMCA to Boost Kids’ Physical Activity

March 2, 2015 /3BL Media/ - Oakwood Healthcare has partnered with CBS EcoMedia through its WellnessAd program to provide funding that will expand a signature Downriver Family YMCA program aimed at encouraging kids to stay active before- and after- school. The CATCH Me If You Can program incentivizes kids, ages 5-12, to have fun while being physically active by rewarding ‘tokens’ to kids for walking certain distances and tracking their physical activity at home.

Multiple studies show that kids who are physically active regularly experience improvements in both their fitness levels and brain function. The funding from Oakwood Healthcare recognizes the importance of physical activity on children’s overall health and wellbeing.

Oakwood Healthcare funding will support the purchase of three Wii packages intended to promote indoor activities that will keep kids engaged. These packages include a Wii console, 4 controllers, a charger, a Wii Sports game, and projectors. The three Wii packages will be rotated weekly between Downriver Family YMCA’s nine School Age Child Care after-school sites: Carr Elementary, Keppen Elementary, Hoover Elementary, Foote Elementary, Washington Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, Monroe Elementary, Allendale Elementary and Metro Charter Academy.

The project will also launch a walking program that will track kids’ physical activity. Downriver Family YMCA held a kick-off today at all of its nine school sites to distribute special ‘kits’ for participants of the walking program. The kits, with Oakwood Healthcare’s financial support, include pedometers, journals, swim passes to the Downriver Y and T-shirts to help track the number of steps participants take while participating in the program. As milestones are met, participants will receive prizes such as toe charms and chain necklaces, to recognize and reward their achievements.

“We are excited to partner with Oakwood to bring CATCH Me If You Can to children in our programs,” said Jeff McIntyre, Branch Operations Director of the Downriver Family YMCA. “We’ll be impacting 175 kids at nine different school sites by helping them set goals, develop healthy habits, and most importantly, have fun while participating. The CATCH Me If You Can program really sums up what the Y is about, which is strengthening our community through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.”

“Oakwood has a long history of collaboration and partnership with the YMCA. This initiative reflects Oakwood’s Healthy Communities vision  - to support and promote health, wellness and healthy lifestyles in our communities,” said Betty Priskorn, Oakwood’s Director of Community Outreach.

 “Oakwood Healthcare is offering opportunities for more kids in the Metro Detroit area to benefit from positive fitness experiences that will help enhance their wellness and help them perform better in school,” said Paul Polizzotto, President and Founder, CBS EcoMedia.

For more information about Oakwood Healthcare, visit www.oakwood.org.

About Oakwood Healthcare, Inc.

Founded in 1953 and headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, Oakwood Healthcare System is a comprehensive regional healthcare network that serves residents over a 500 square mile area. Comprised of four acute care hospitals, 45 primary and specialty care sites and four centers of excellence, Oakwood provides services to more than one million people in 35 communities. Oakwood's mission is to provide excellence in care, healing and health to the individuals and communities we serve. Oakwood has been recognized as one of the nation's top 100 Integrated Healthcare Networks, one of Metro Detroit's Best and Brightest Companies to Work For, and a finalist for the 2011 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. For more information about Oakwood visit oakwood.org.

About the Downriver Family YMCA

The Downriver Family YMCA has been serving the Downriver communities for over 70 years.  We are a cause driven organization with an emphasis on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.  Currently the Downriver Family YMCA serves over 15,000 members in the community and 175 children daily in our School Age Child Care program. The YMCA is accessible to all regardless of age, race, religion, gender, or financial standing.

The Downriver Y is a branch of the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit. Throughout Metro Detroit, Ys engage more than 300,000 men, women and children – regardless of age, income or background – to nurture the potential of children and teens, improve the region’s health and well-being, and provide opportunities to give back and support neighbors. Anchored in communities throughout Metro Detroit, the Y has the long-standing relationships and physical presence not just to promise, but to deliver, lasting personal and social change. ymcadetroit.org

About CBS EcoMedia Inc.

At EcoMedia, we’re propelled by the desire to create positive social change; that’s been our mission since we founded the company in 2002. In 2010, after successfully partnering with CBS on a wide range of environmental projects, EcoMedia became the newest addition to the CBS Corporation portfolio, exponentially scaling our reach across television, radio, interactive, publishing and outdoor media. 

Through our patent-pending EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd programs, an innovative twist on traditional advertising, advertisers are able to support much-needed local projects which in turn creates jobs, saves taxpayer money and improves the quality of life in communities nationwide. In the process, we’re fundamentally altering the advertising landscape, elevating the ordinary, traditional commercial – and media, in general – into a catalyst for tangible, quantifiable social change. Please visit ecomediacbs.com, like us at facebook.com/EcoMediaCBS or follow us at Twitter.com/EcoMediaCBS.

By participating in EcoMedia’s EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd advertising programs, EcoMedia’s advertisers agree to provide funding for projects we believe will have a beneficial effect upon the environment, health and/or education within local communities. EcoMedia’s advertising programs are not certification programs nor are the EcoAd, WellnessAd or EducationAd logos seals of approval. EcoMedia does not in any way certify, endorse or make any representations about EcoMedia program advertisers, their products or services.