Could you become the district's healthiest family?
04/12/2009
NHS Wakefield District is setting down a challenge to local families. They are running a competition to find a family that wants to start leading a healthier lifestyle and become Wakefield District's Healthiest Family.
The challenge fits with the national Change4Life campaign aimed at getting people to eat well, move more and live longer. It's open to families who are ready to lead a healthier lifestyle but need some support and guidance to get them started. The winning family will get tailored support to start making small changes to increase their activity and make healthy eating choices. Along with the health benefits the family will gain from taking part they'll also get the opportunity to win a healthy holiday at Centre Parcs.
Karen Thompson works as part of NHS Wakefield District's Public Health department and is a Weight Management Specialist Dietician, she said: "We hope this competition will get families across the district motivated into leading a healthier lifestyle. The way we live nowadays means a lot of us, especially our children, have fallen into unhelpful habits. This means all of us need to make small changes to eat well, move more and live longer and doing this together as a family is key. We want to show people the wide variety of activities, services and support that's available to help them achieve this. We've got everything from weight management programmes, cook and eat sessions and health walks and cycle rides to stop smoking sessions, street dance and health trainers."
Wakefield District's Healthiest Family competition kicks off on Monday 7th December. It's open to any local family who wants to take up the Change4Life challenge to become healthier. The winning family will start their three-week, tailored programme at the beginning of January. Their progress will be followed and they'll be interviewed by 96.3 Radio Aire who are helping to run the campaign.
To find out more about the competition, the Change4Life campaign and local healthy living services there are two events being held at Xscape in Castleford on Saturday 12th December and Saturday 19th December. Street teams will be on hand to register families and there'll also be an EA Sports Active pod set up for families to try out as well as two Nintendo Wii's up for grabs (one on each day).
You can register for the competition online by visiting www.radioaire.com/wakefield or by texting 'well' to 64446. Someone will call you back to find out more about your family before entering you into the competition. The winner will be chosen at random the first week in January.
NHS Wakefield District's Consultant in Public Health and Head of Primary Prevention, Dr Anita Roy said: "Over 400,600 families across the country have already joined Change4Life. Wakefield District's Healthiest Family competition is a great way for local families to take those first steps towards leading a healthier life. We hope that by following the progress of our winning family we can inspire others to follow in their footsteps."
To find out more about Change4Life visit www.nhs.uk/Change4Life or call 0300 123 4567*
*Calls to 03 numbers should cost no more than geographic 01 or 02 UK-wide calls, and may be part of inclusive minutes subject to your provider and your call package.
