Mapping children's health

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Thursday's report by the Texas State Demographer indicates overweight children have a greater chance to grow into obese adults.

"I'm the one raising my kids," said mother Jessica Merritt. "I think I have the most control over the diet my children keep as they grow."

But does your child's neighborhood or school also influence their weight? Children's Optimal Health, an organization dedicated to improving a child’s overall health, believes there may be correlations between environment and health we're not aware of.

"What is their access to parks or proximity to fast food versus healthy food in grocery stores," said Jim Walker, board member. "And hopefully that will help us ask questions in how we can intervene in those kids lives."

The data on factors like obesity trends and crime rates are out there, but community agencies often cannot share the data because of privacy issues. Children's Optimal Health can compile the data and keep an individual's privacy intact. Once the information is plotted on a map, it is made fuzzy around the edges so no single point of information can be pinpointed. When overlaid with other information like crime statistics or parks, the map can locate "hot spots" at the neighborhood level.

"We can apply resources to hot spots," said Diana Resnik, Senior Vice President of Seton Community Care. "We can collaborate on interventions but we might have some opportunity to talk about public policy."

Children's Optimal Health board of 13 local agencies was established two years ago. AISD, the Greater Austin Chamber, the Housing Authority, Integrated Care Collaboration, the Seton Family of Hospitals, St. David's, Travis County Health Care District, University of Austin, University of Texas Public Health, Any Baby Can and Live Works are all members.