Letter from the President
Dear Friends:

Just before we finalized this edition of The LifeCare Connection, the national media were carrying literally dozens of stories about a report in the New England Journal of Medicine that delivered this startling warning: obesity could shorten the average lifespan of an entire generation of American children—today’s children—by two to five years.

The report is controversial and experts are divided about its findings. But no one is questioning the fact that we have an alarming trend toward obesity in this country. One-third of all Americans are now obese. Clearly, the potential impact to Medicare, Social Security and American businesses is enormous. (The cost of obesity to U.S. businesses alone—for health care, sick leave and life and disability insurance—is estimated at $12.7 billion.) But obesity also holds tremendous implications for one segment of our society in particular—parents.

As many experts point out, obesity is often a “parenting issue.” It’s related to how the family eats, the types of foods they buy, their exercise patterns, how closely parents monitor their children’s diet (frequency of snacking, for example), etc. For working parents, all of this can be especially challenging. At LifeCare, we provide parents with a wide range of tools and strategies for helping them control their children’s (and their own) weight and improve their overall levels of health. We offer 24/7 counseling, education and referrals to help with weight and health issues; the latest articles and educational materials to help parents better understand their children’s dietary needs; online tools for adults such as a Health Risk Assessment and Healthy Living Programs; we even offer telephonic health coaching for an added level of convenience. We feel that it’s just as important to help parents with their own health/weight management as it is to help the children who are at risk. After all, parents are the most immediate role models in the lives of their children.

The need for services like ours is critical. As USA TODAY recently reported, 16 percent of children are now overweight and another 15 percent are at risk of becoming overweight. This significantly increases their chances of developing type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and a host of other ailments. So there’s quite a lot at risk here.

If you offer our health and wellness services, please be sure to remind employees how we can help them live happier, healthier lives. (If you’re not a LifeCare client but are interested in learning more about how our services can help your organization, call us at 866-675-3751 and we’ll give you full details.)

As always, we’d appreciate knowing how we can better serve you. So e-mail us at connection@lifecare.com, fax us at 203-291-3571, or call us at 800-873-4636 if you’d like to share ideas and offer feedback.

Sincerely,

John B. Place, President