Most adults know how hard it is to find time for exercise. But many don’t realize how hard it can be for some kids to get exercise as well. Unfortunately, not everyone grows up with the same access to things like team sports, parks, bike rides, and monkey bars. This can make it a challenge for them to get the amount of physical activity they need to develop good lifelong habits and stay healthy.
We recently chatted with Lindsey Stailing who is a Patient Support Program Manager at Central Oregon’s Mosaic Medical, about how she and her team are working to solve this problem. They have recently completed a pilot program called “Rx to Move,” where a doctor prescribes movement activities to young persons at risk for hypertension or diabetes. One of the unique aspects of Rx to Move is that the program provides funding for physical activities beyond traditional exercise; activities young people are interested in, such as access to a rock climbing gym, karate, an aquatic center, or the parkour gym.
Lindsey shared details about this exciting program in a recent conversation:
What is Rx to Move?
“Rx to Move is a pilot program designed to see if primary care provider recommendations to increase physical activity via a prescription, as well as fitness barrier removal, will increase physical activity among youth.”
Does a doctor actually prescribe exercise to kids?
“In the course of any kind of medical appointment where our providers are seeing young people between the ages of 6-18, if they surmise a patient will benefit from more physical activity, they will offer it as a prescription.
From there, we leverage one of our community health workers. That person will partner with the patient and their family to try to identify opportunities for physical activity, with a goal to increase the likelihood that the young person will start moving a little more.”
So it’s all part of a regular doctor’s visit?
“Yes. Though the doctors don’t necessarily go so far as to identify specific activities for the kids, they do identify that the child might have too much screen time, or maybe they’re suffering from a specific illness, or just don’t have good habits in place as of yet. The idea with the prescription is to provide that extra motivation and push, because the doctor can convey the importance of physical activity in a child’s life.
From there, the community health worker can go through all of the opportunities that are available in that child’s community, so they’re getting the opportunities to play and be active in their community. This opportunity will create healthy habits that will last a lifetime.”
What makes Rx to Move unique?
“There are a couple of things that set this program apart. One is that we’re not asking providers to identify young people based on a set criteria. It can be hard to do that with all the things our providers have to remember in primary care. So we took that challenge away and told them that any child within the age range who they think needs to move more, qualifies.
The other key differentiator for the program is that we recognized that kids are interested in a variety of activities. For example, some older teens may want a gym membership, while some younger teens may want to try out rock climbing and they may not be interested in team sports. By not restricting the child’s options, we’ve seen a higher uptick in participation.”
How did Mosaic Medical get started on this Program?
“The decision to start this program came out of our regional health improvement plan workgroup, by way of a survey that reported a high number of days of inactivity among 8th and 11th graders. We recognize those days of inactivity as potentially increasing their risk factors for cardiovascular disease or diabetes. We know that if young people don’t develop a habit of movement at a young age, they’re not going to have the habit of exercise and movement as they grow older.
The term “nature deficit disorder” exists now because young people aren’t outdoors playing and experimenting and using their imagination to do things like build forts or play tag. Often when a family has a habit of physical activity, the young person has a habit. But there are families where mom and dad work or simply don’t have the resources needed to provide transportation or purchase the tools needed to play a sport. In Central Oregon, pay-to-play for school sports is very common, which means that school sports require a payment for things like equipment or even to just participate on a team. We see those as contributing factors to the problem, as well as a shift to screen time.”
How effective was the Rx to Move pilot program?
“In the pilot program’s timeframe, we had more than 200 young people referred to us from a Mosaic Medical provider and were able to connect about 50% of those young people. We included funds as a program resource to connect kids to activities, which meant we were paying for things like enrollment fees and equipment. The program caught on quickly and at one point we had to leverage other community resources, scholarships programs, etc. when we ran out of funds. But I would say that for our initial effort, the fact that we received a large number of referrals from our providers was in of itself a success and also an indication of the need to get young people moving.
Following a child’s participation we were able to survey parents of participants and they reported that the provider recommending the program and the support to identify community opportunities, along with financial assistance, were the three key ingredients identified as helping their child be more likely to participate.”
What’s next for Rx to Move? Will it spread regionally across all clinics?
“We were fortunate to present our results to a regional health improvement plan workgroup (the cardiovascular disease/diabetes prevention workgroup), and they agreed to fund an additional dollar amount for us to continue the program for the next two years. I’m also working with our community health worker and some additional support staff to use the Rx to Move prescription as the jumping off point for how we can make this opportunity sustainable for someone’s family over the long term.
We hope to do that in part by leveraging other scholarship and needs-based assistance programs. That includes working with local karate studios or dance/gymnastic studios that have been embracing the young people who get referred but otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to participate.
From there, we’re hoping that the program helps make a family aware of the resources that are available to them, but also that they get to see the joy and physical behavior improvement in their children.”
How can someone participate in the program?
“At this time, Mosaic Medical is the only entity in Central Oregon running this version of a program. So if a family is a patient or their child is seeing a provider at Mosaic Medical, they could contact us. Or if they’ve had a recent appointment, their provider may be able to refer them to the program without a visit, as long as they are engaged in primary care services with Mosaic.”
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