Aamoth Family Pediatric Wellness Center opens at MetroHealth Medical Center Published: Sunday, July 03, 2011, 8:07 PM By Teresa Chin, The Plain Dealer Scott Shaw, The Plain Dealer Trainer Paul "Theo" Theodore, third from top left, and his exercise class celebrate the end of a workout at the Aamoth Family Pediatric Wellness Center. The class included participants ranging from age 42 years to 21 months. CLEVELAND, Ohio "I like to move it move it! I like to move it move it!" The infectious dance music by Reel 2 Real spills into the atrium of the Outpatient Plaza at MetroHealth Medical Center. A few curious patients go in search of the source of the tune, which leads them past the Women and Children's Pavilion to a small carpeted area in Pediatrics where seventeen pairs of legs are pumping furiously in time to the beat. "Come on in! Don't be shy," beckons trainer Paul "Theo" Theodore, mid-jumping jack, to the bemused-looking newcomers. "There's plenty of room for all."
Chance discovery is just one of the ways people find themselves at the Aamoth Family Pediatric Wellness Center, the new, in-house, all-purpose exercise/food-tasting station/nutrition counseling area at MetroHealth designed to serve inner-city families. Aamoth Family Pediatric Wellness Center The Aamoth Family Pediatric Wellness Center offers several free programs on health and wellness, including hands-on cooking lessons, working out with a personal trainer, and breastfeeding support classes. For more information, including the latest events schedule, visit metrohealth.org/wellkids or call 216-778-4798. The center is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is located at: MetroHealth Medical Center, Women & Children's Pavilion, First Floor, Room 1304, 2500 MetroHealth Drive. The center, which opened June 16, attracted 100 people in its first week. "We've seen a tremendous response from our patients and their families," said Director Susie Akers, a registered dietician who works with patients on healthy behavior change. "They want to get healthy, but they don't always have a place to go." Until recently, the space was used as an overflow waiting room for the Pediatrics department. Akers remembers watching patients and their families come into the chair-filled space, and feeling like the hospital was missing an opportunity. "People would come here and just sit and sit," she said. "I thought, 'There are better things we could be doing with these people while they're here.' " Unlike the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospital, MetroHealth doesn't have a formal weightloss program for its patients. And Akers felt that the hospital needed to offer additional resources to help the inner-city families she was seeing with behavior change.
"Inner-city families have different health needs," Akers said, explaining that traditional diet and exercise advice has to be adjusted for people on a fixed income, or who live in apartments with limited space. So Akers, along with pediatrician Robert Needlman, developed a set of programs to show patients that healthier living could be "accessible, achievable and fun." The hospital received private and corporate funds to pay for the center, which is also open to non-metrohealth patients. Scott Shaw, The Plain Dealer Besides being a fitness trainer, Paul Theodore also has a masters in social work. "I see the mind and body as linked," he said. "You have to take care of the whole person."
The most popular program so far is "Thursdays with Theo," a two-hour, drop-in exercise session, which draws a mixed crowd of all sizes and ages. On the surface, Theodore is your prototypical fitness trainer: toned and energetic with an authoritative voice, a megawatt smile and a tendency to punctuate the ends of his sentences with sound effects. Unlike many other trainers, he adjusts his routines for each individual, based on age and health restrictions. This day, while the rest of the group practices push-ups, he gently pulls aside 7-year-old Daniel Davis and shows the young boy a modified, standing version of the exercise. "Boom!" says Theo, as he uses his arms to push his body away from the wall. "Boom!" echoes Daniel. Daniel is having fun now, but he's not always keen on exercising, said 42-year-old Cheryl Davis, his mother. "He gets bored working out at home, and when he gets bored he wants to eat," she said. Mother and son have tried using fitness videos at home, but found them too fast to follow. "It's just me and him at home," said Davis. "It's easier [to keep him engaged] here with so many people. He's really into it." Like several of the children in the class, Daniel has additional health issues that make it hard for him to exercise. His mother says he has had tight muscles since birth, and his hands don't open all the way. At a recent doctor visit, Davis found out that Daniel also has high cholesterol. That's when the doctor suggested the pair check out the Wellness Center. Davis says they can walk to the Center from where they live, and plans on coming back with Daniel every week. She's already set goals for each of them.
Scott Shaw, The Plain Dealer Seven-year-old Daniel Davis, center, and his mother Cheryl, right, wrap up their workout at the center. The group included several sets of parents and children. "I want to lose at least 10 pounds, and get Daniel to have lower cholesterol," she says. "Now I know some moves that are simple and fun. We're going to try to get healthy at home, too." Akers hopes that the center's other programs, like teen cooking classes and a breastfeeding support group, will eventually gain the popularity of Thursdays with Theo. For her part, she has been working to spread the word about the center among the doctors at MetroHealth. Her staff members also approach patients sitting in adjacent waiting rooms and invite them to stretch out in the Center instead (the desk will call patients for their appointments). Akers is encouraged by the results she has seen so far. "We had a woman come back... and say she's already lost three pounds," said Akers. "It's all about those baby steps. "Health is something you have to take one day at a time."