West Philadelphia schoolchildren had no safe place to play after budget cuts were put in place and gym classes were not providing students with the level of activity they needed, according to a published report. Physical activity is essential for children’s health as those with nursing jobs know.
“For all of those reasons, there are a lot of barriers in the West Philadelphia community to increase activity,” Terri Lipman, professor of nutrition at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Penn Current, a publication from the University of Pennsylvania, reports Lipman capitalized on funding from a community group and established “Dance for Health,” which encourages physical movement in the community. Partaking is simple since dancing does not cost anything, is easy to perform and can be done virtually anywhere.
“Our hope is that if we are able to motivate the whole family to dance, we’ll be much more successful incorporating dance as a frequent method of activity,” said Lipman, who also is a professor of nursing.
Physical activity, like the kind encouraged by Lipman, increases cardiovascular health and reduces obesity. She said the students should continue being active.
She is working on establishing family dance nights and next month she is looking forward to inviting parents to a party and conducting a separate dance class for children.
Founded in 1940, UPenn founded the first medical school in the American colonies in 1765, according to the university.