Skip Navigation

	U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

REMARKS BY:	TOMMY G. THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:	HHS' Physical Activity Day
DATE:	May 1, 2002

Let's Keep Our Kids Healthy

---

Welcome, everyone, to the Department of Health and Human Services, and thank you for coming.

Kids, are you ready to have some fun?

We've got a great line-up here today and I am so excited.

With me today are:

• My good friend, the distinguished Secretary of Education Rod Paige;

• Jim Baugh, CEO of Wilson Sporting Goods, and founder of the advocacy group, P.E. 4 Life;

• Anne Flannery, executive director of P.E. 4 Life;

• Dr. Gregory Heath, lead health scientist with the CDC's Physical Activity and Health Branch

• Phil Lawler, director of the P.E. 4 Life Institute

• Tennis great Martina Navratilova, who holds the women's all-time record for winning 167 singles championships -- an incredible record;

• Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Dominique Dawes, who is from right here in the greater DC area;

• The CEOs from America's sporting goods industry, and representatives from the health care industry

Thank you all for being here, and thank you for your commitment to our children's health.

Also, former NFL star and Heisman trophy-winner Herschel Walker was going to be here, but couldn't make it. I know that Herschel is committed to our children's health and I thank him for his support.

Let me also thank the National Association of Sport and Physical Educators for helping us coordinate this event, and for raising awareness about the need for physical activity for our kids.

We're here today to mark the Department of Health and Human Services' "Physical Activity Day." It's fitting that we're doing this today, which is National Physical Education Day.

Children are this country's most precious resource. We're fortunate to raise them in freedom, and in a prosperous era.

But when it comes to simple health, we're too often falling far behind.

Too many children in this country are overweight and obese -- and our children are paying the price with their health.

Its impact is not just physical -- being overweight and obese also takes a great emotional toll on our children.

The fact that we have two Cabinet Secretaries, sporting goods CEOs, health care reps and 2 sport greats here today indicates the magnitude of this crisis -- and our commitment to doing something about it.

And being overweight and obese causes an economic burden, as well.

Our own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just released a study that underscores the evidence we already have -- poor nutrition and insufficient physical activity among children ages 6 to 17 carry great health risks.

For example, in the past 20 years:

• The occurrence of children who are overweight and obese has nearly tripled;
• The occurrence of hospital discharges among obese youths has nearly tripled;
• The number of obesity-related diseases, such as diabetes, among children have nearly doubled;
• Type 2 diabetes, once only a disease of adults, is on the rise in children;
• Annual hospital costs for obesity-related conditions in youth increased from $35 million to $127 million.

We sometimes do things backwards here in America. We wait until people get sick, and then we spend billions of dollars a year to try and make them healthy.

If we shift our focus to not getting sick in the first place, we'll save money - but more importantly, we'll save countless lives. Preventing disease and illness literally can be a matter of life and death.

We need to get back to the basics. Let's get our kids off the couches ... off the Play Stations ... and onto the playgrounds.

And we adults should be out there playing with them, setting an example of good diet and exercise. We're the parents -- we're the ones responsible for our children and their health.

Let's show our kids that exercise can be fun. And Let's rally everyone to get involved and make this a community effort.

In a little while, you'll hear how two local communities used a little money and a LOT of ingenuity to get their kids active.

Children already know they should eat right and exercise regularly to stay healthy, but we need to make if fun and achievable.

We need to stop the guilt-ridden lectures and show kids the enjoyable things they can do to improve their health.

That way, they'll want to spend more time on the playgrounds and less time on their Play Stations.

And now, I'd like to turn over the podium to my good friend, Education Secretary Rod Paige. Secretary Paige . . .

Thank you, Secretary Paige. And now, let's welcome Jim Baugh, CEO of Wilson Sporting Goods. Jim . . .

Thank you, Jim, and thank you to Wilson and the sporting goods industry, for being such an advocate on behalf of our nation's children.

And now, we have Anne Flannery, of P.E. 4 Life. Anne . . .

Thank you, Anne. And now, I want to turn things over to Phil Lawler, Martina Navratilova and Dominique Dawes.

They're going to go out on the plaza and show the kids just how fun physical activity can be.

Thank you, Phil.

I want to thank Sport Court, Incorporated, for so generously donating the sport court for us to use today.

I also want to thank Beth Kirkpatrick (kirk-patrick) from the Polar Heart Monitor Company and Rich Schupbach (Shoe-bach).

Beth invented the Heart Adventure Course, and Polar donated the heart monitors that the students are wearing.

And Beth and rich and his family drove over 20 hours to bring the Heart Adventure Course to us today. Thank you so much.

I also want to thank the volunteers from the district's "School Without Walls" for assembling the court.

And last but certainly not least, let's give a round of applause to the kids from the fourth grade at Watkins Elementary School here in D.C., and to their teacher -- Reginald Howard. Great job -- Thanks!

And thank you all for coming.