Reuters article: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/22/us-community-programs-idUSBREA0L1EB20140122

Click here to read the Healthy Dads, Healthy Kids journal article: bit.ly/1hmzatZ

Click on the link to read more: http://www.mdlinx.com/medical-student/news-article.cfm/5378683/

The HDHK team look forward to continuing the 2014  journey with the Maitland fathers and their children.

Good luck ‘Healthy Dad and kids!’ 

Register online for the Maitland program now.

Although you wouldn’t read about it, making sure his customers get their news fresh off the press hasn’t come without some health sacrifices along the way for Maitland newsagent Rodney Porter. Working long hours and regularly eating takeaway food began taking a toll on the Thornton father-of-four who decided to take action and participated in Healthy Dads, Healthy Kids, where he lost more than 12kgs. The award-winning programme is a partnership between Coal & Allied, Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), the University of Newcastle, Hunter New England Health, and the community. It’s being rolled out in communities across the Upper Hunter Valley, and runs for seven sessions over 12 weeks, focusing on weight loss, healthy eating, and physical activity sessions designed to help dads and their children bond.

Mr Porter, who has owned his newsagency for nine years, participated in the programme with his two older children Toby, 10 years old, and Tom, six. “I had got accustomed to taking the quick and easy approach with food. I start work around 4.30am every day and had got into the bad habit of eating on the run while driving around delivering papers,” Mr Porter said. “For breakfast I’d stop and have a pie or sausage roll, and at lunch time it would be a similar take away food. “I was starting to feel unhappy about my weight and it was only when my son brought home the brochure about the programme and asked me to do it that I felt motivated enough to take action.”

Mr Porter said he had a gym membership but never used it and many of the fathers at his son’s soccer games often talked about losing weight but didn’t do anything about it. “It’s funny because when I was doing the programme, some of my mates jokingly bagged me out for it, but when I started to lose weight some of their wives began nudging them to get involved too,” Mr Porter said. “Even though the programme finished about a month ago, I’ve remained conscious about what I put in my mouth and I make sure I get enough exercise and more time with the kids. “Now I go to the grocery shop and stock up on foods like cereals, yoghurts, and fruit for the week so that I don’t have to go out and buy food every day and it’s also saving money. “Also, instead of driving up each and every driveway to make my paper deliveries, I park at the end of the road and get out and walk. I’ve actually made a deliberate effort to increase my steps each day. “My family and kids are happier now because we play a lot more and do activities together like bike riding, walking, playing in the park, kicking the ball, and just bonding with each other.”

Healthy Dads Healthy Kids programme manager Dr Drew Miller said more than 25 dads and over 50 kids from Maitland had participated in the programme so far and it will come back to the city again.

Local Singleton dad Andrew Speechly said that he participated in the program last year and lost an outstanding 10 kilograms. “I joined the program to spend more time with my eight-year-old daughter Isabella,” Mr Speechly said. “The program not only allowed me to set time aside to spend with Isabella but it also equipped me with tools of self awareness and the basic principles for weight loss.”

Community members Clayton Barr (MP – Cessnock)  and Shaun Graham (Deputy Principal – Cessnock Public School) are among the local fathers looking to pass healthy lifestyle skills to their children and bring about some diet and physical activity changes within their families.

Programs are set to run in Muswellbrook/Scone, Singleton, Cessnock and Maitland in 2012

For more details contact Joel on 49216721 or email Joel.Cruickshank@newcastle.edu.au.

Now it’s your chance to take part. What better time than the lead up to summer to drop a couple of kilos while having great fun with the kids.

Sessions are midweek evenings from 5.45-7.15pm at a local Maitland school

• 8 sessions total (4 dads only / 4 dads and kids)
• Full of activities you can do with your kids at home
• Latest research on healthy eating and active lifestyles

Dads who completed the program in December 2011 had this to say:

“Great presenter, excellent structure & information and very motivating”

“I really enjoyed learning new ways of interacting with my daughter”

“I learned how to eat healthier without too much change”

For more information please contact Joel Cruickshank, Project Manager on (02) 49216721

Joel.Cruickshank@newcastle.edu.au

Twenty five fathers and their children from Scone, Muswellbrook and Aberdeen started the Healthy Dads Healthy Kids program in March 2012. There is growing support for HDHK in these communities and it was wonderful to see local schools, community members and organisations working together to recruit fathers into the program. These families will reap the benefits of dads focussed on their health and engaged with their kids in fun physical activity and healthy eating experiences. The HDHK team would like to wish the fathers in the program all the best and thank all those who were involved in planning and recruitment.

Local Aberdeen resident Shane Lloyd (pictured with his daughters Anna and Kate) took part in the HDHK program in 2011, losing 7.5kg in the process.