MUNICIPALITIES: 134 PRACTICES
The Municipality of Ampelokipi - Menemeni is a municipality of the Region of Central Macedonia which was established in 2011 from the merger of the pre-existing municipalities of Ampelokipi and Menemeni. It occupies the north-western edge of the Urban Development Complex of Thessaloniki and its population amounts to 52,127 inhabitants. Its seat is Ampelokipi and its mayor is Lazaros Kyrizoglou.
In summary, the program aims to:
The program is expected to contribute to the promotion of the public health policy of our country and in particular as regards the fight against the epidemic of adolescent obesity and the prevention of STDs. The data that will be collected can be used by the competent authorities both at the level of central government and local government for the planning and implementation of targeted interventions of preventive medicine, prevention and health education. In addition, it is estimated that the use of new technologies, such as mobile telemedicine, will contribute to the efficient and effective utilization of the limited human resources available to the municipalities and to the upgrading of social care services provided to special population groups and to the activation of the new responsibilities of the Municipalities in framework of "Kallicratis" concerning the Health Prevention Centers (article 58, Law 3852/2010).
Finally, the program has a distinct educational and pedagogical character for various categories of citizens. First of all, for the teenagers who will participate as it is expected that through the program they will become aware of healthy habits such as healthy eating and exercise. Then for the parents and teachers who will be involved in the educational process together with the teenagers and health professionals. Working together, it is hoped that these categories of citizens will realize the importance of interventions for teenagers and will fervently support the implementation of the program as well as the transmission of their experience far beyond the narrow contexts of middle and high schools. Also important are the experiences that the health professionals who will be involved are expected to acquire, as until now in Greece there is no work culture in public health matters, especially among the municipal staff. Finally, the involvement of the managers of the canteens of high schools and high schools aims to raise their awareness about metabolic syndrome and launch collaborations with municipalities and teachers to provide food of high nutritional value but low caloric value in the canteens at affordable prices from 2014.
Teenagers, parents, middle and high school teaching staff, health professionals.
The study was implemented in 3 schools of the municipality of Ampelokipi - Menemeni (2 Gymnasiums and 1 Lyceum), in a sample consisting of 424 teenagers. Regarding gender distribution, the sample was made up of 59% girls and 41% boys.
The general population benefited from the nutritional advice on the program's blog and from the good nutrition guides.
The project started from 30-03-2012 and completed on 30-06-2015. Duration 39.06.
The act concerns the implementation of health promotion and education actions to deal with obesity as well as the most widespread eating disorders (EDD) among the teenagers of the 3rd grade schools of the Municipality of Ampelokipi - Menemeni. The sub-projects and actions of the project carried out are: SUB-PROJECT – 1: Provision of Scientific and Support Services for the Implementation of the Act.- ACTION 1: Measurement of adolescent health data and subsequent recording of the data – follow up.- ACTION 2: Planning and implementation of health promotion and education interventions through the organization of lectures and seminars.- ACTION 3: Scientific coordination, supervision & secretarial support ACTION 4: Statistical analysis of the data. SUB-PROJECT – 2: Supply of IT and Communication Technologies Equipment, IT Applications, Technical Support Services , Application Maintenance and Hosting, User Training and Consumables.- ACTION 1: Supply of portable telemedicine equipment.- ACTION 2: Supply of ICT equipment.- ACTION 3: Supply of consumables for the telemedicine devices and other consumables.- ACTION 4: Supply of applications for the measurement, transfer, storage and analysis of health data, the online health portal as well as application usage fees. ACTION 5: Provision of technical support services, hosting & maintenance of the applications and training of users. OUTPUT – 3: Procurement, Transport and Delivery of Fruits.- ACTION 1: Procurement of Fruits- ACTION 2: Transport and Delivery of the Fruits. SUB-PROJECT – 4: Elaboration of Electronic Guides for Balanced Diet and Physical Activity and Guides for DLTs.- ACTION 1: Guides for Balanced Diet, Physical Activity and on DLT.YPOERGO - 5- ACTION 1: Elaboration of Questionnaires.
The project concerned the implementation of health promotion and education actions to deal with obesity and eating disorders (EDD) in the adolescents of the Municipality of Ampelokipi - Menemeni, Thessaloniki. It was based on the initial measurement of the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and food intake disorders in the adolescent population in middle and high schools of the Municipality. It was structured in three distinct stages which as a whole aimed to achieve the goal of promoting the health of the local population.
In the first stage of the project during which the identification of the metabolic syndrome or the individual disorders it includes took place, with the use of telemedicine technology. With the help of medical devices with telematics applications, a sample of the adolescent population of the Municipality of Ampelokipi was examined by the medical team and at the same time demographic, nutritional and social data were obtained from it in the form of a questionnaire.
In the second stage, the intervention took place in three distinct forms, on the one hand, the medical treatment of the adolescents diagnosed with the syndrome in the previous stage, and on the other hand, the promotion of fruit consumption and health education. More specifically, the project promoted the adoption of a healthy diet based on the Mediterranean diet pattern by offering all teenagers a fruit (apple) every day, in their school environment. Finally, targeted education actions were implemented for all teenagers, which were extended to parents, teachers and the rest of the community to raise awareness of the metabolic syndrome of obesity and eating disorders.
In the third stage, the measurements of the medical data determined in the first stage were repeated in the participating adolescent population, to check the results of the project.
Teenagers, parents, teachers and health professionals in the area were informed about the metabolic syndrome, obesity and eating disorders, through workshops, lectures, the website and good nutrition guides. A very important action was the distribution of fruit in schools (fruit was eaten in schools which is not common for children) and guides on good nutrition exercise and adolescent eating disorders were distributed. While corresponding guides for parents, teachers and health professionals were written and posted. All the above actions clearly brought about a change in the current culture and an impetus was given for the reflection-information of both teenagers and parents about the change and the adoption of a healthy way of eating and dealing with the problem.
The sample tested was 100% covered. Doctors who diagnosed problems with eating disorders and obesity, informed the parents by letter about a free visit with the child psychiatrist. During the visit, an analytical report was made and counseling followed (which took place in addition to the implementation of the project, based on the doctor's initiative, since disorders had been diagnosed). In addition, a corresponding action will be carried out by the pediatrician for the children who presented metabolic syndrome and obesity problems.
Finally, the project is called upon to play an educational and pedagogical role in the entire population of the community where it is implemented. Initially, the participating teenagers are expected to become aware of the adoption of a healthy diet and exercise through the program. Subsequently, parents and teachers who have been involved in the educational process together with adolescents and health professionals are expected to become aware of issues of nutrition and physical exercise. Finally, the involvement of the managers of the high schools and high schools canteens is aimed at raising their awareness about the metabolic syndrome and launching collaborations with the Municipalities and teachers for the provision of food of high nutritional value at an affordable cost, within the school environment. The distribution of fruit in schools and guides for teenagers, parents, teachers and health professionals are clearly actions in which they gradually show a change in culture and attitude towards the problem of eating disorders and obesity.
The evaluation of the Program was completed with the end of the project.
MUNICIPALITY OF AMPELOKIPI-MENEMENI
During the implementation stage, the Municipality collaborated with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and secondary education.
There was collaboration with the Ministry of Education to secure the license to implement the act in schools with the Personal Data Protection Authority to secure a license as well as collaboration with the secondary school and school principals to carry out the practice activities.
For the implementation of the action there was a project team that was established by the decision of the mayor and consisted of 7 permanent employees of the municipality.
The completion of the project is expected to promote the public health of the local community where the action was implemented, especially in terms of limiting adolescent obesity and metabolic syndrome. The data collected as well as the action plans drawn up by the scientific responsibles of the operation (pediatrician and child psychiatrist) are available to be used and utilized by the competent local authorities for the design and implementation of targeted preventive medicine, prevention and health education interventions. In addition, it is estimated that the use of new technologies, such as telemedicine, will contribute to the efficiency of the municipality and to the upgrading of the social care services provided to special population groups and to the activation of the new responsibilities of the Municipalities in the context of "Kallicratis" concerning the Prevention Centers of Health (article 58, Law 3852/2010).
Finally, through project promotion and publicity actions:
there was corresponding promotion and publicity of the municipality in various bodies.
