Orange County NAPNAP Chapter
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Childhood Obesity

Posted about 13 years ago by Vivian Derr

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 Dr. Patricia Riba, a general practice pediatrician, has developed a program that deals with children who are underweight, failing to thrive, overweight, or obese. Her program is called Dr. Riba’s Health Club (DrRHC).  DrRHC approaches diagnosis, treatment, and prevention with a multidisciplinary team, providing direct patient care and individual treatment programs that are tailored to each child's needs. The multidisciplinary team is comprised of a Pediatrician/Medical Director, Program/Clinic Coordinator, Operations Manager, Fitness Instructors, Registered Dietitian, Outreach Coordinator, and Culinary Instructor.

The overall intervention is the same for all nutrition related problems from Obesity to Failure to Thrive:

1) Discuss the psychology of feeding;

2) Teach families how to improve their nutrition;

3) Promote increased physical activity;

4) Assess and treat any medical or psychological comorbidities.

 DrRHC is currently operating at HOPE Clinic in Costa Mesa, CA and has begun offering services at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo.  To refer to the Costa Mesa site, contact Rosario Olivera at 949-379-9901 or email her at healthcluboutreach@gmail.com   To refer to the Mission site, contact Judi Kennard at 949-364-4277, or email her at:  judi.kennard@stjoe.org

Also noteworthy is the fact that Dr. Riba is funded by a variety of sources including the Children and Families Commission of Orange County and is applying for a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  I wanted to especially point out that she has received a grant from Healthy Families.  So, if you’ve got a patient who’s enrolled in Healthy Families and is under or overweight, or obese, please refer them to Dr.Riba’s Program.  

Please note that Dr. Riba does not turn any patient away because of lack of funding.  Let’s do what we can to support her.                                                                                         

Thank you,

Linda Scott-Katz, RN, MS, PNP

President, OC-NAPNAP