Community Health Programs
Health for Life ROBYN TURETSKY • Program Coordinator • rkt9001@nyp.org x JANE CHANG, MD • Medical Director, Health for Life East • jac9009@med.cornell.edu x JOHN RAUSCH, MD • Medical Director, Health for Life West • jr2163@cumc.columbia.edu Mission and Goals
Number of clinic visits in 2019 Presentations
The mission of Health 4 Life (H4L), a comprehensive weight management program, is to provide a safe and supportive environment for four- to 20-year-olds and their families who wish to improve their well-being through healthier diets and increased physical activity. Through individual clinic visits and group programming, H4L empowers participants to make healthier lifestyle choices for themselves and their families. The Health 4 Life program works with patients who have overweight or obesity as identified by their primary care physicians based on BMI percentile. Patients meet with doctors, dietitians, social workers, and a clinical exercise physiologist at each clinic visit. H4L families are encouraged to join group programming including physical activity for kids and nutrition education and support for parents.
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250 Key Accomplishments
• H4L serves NewYork-Presbyterian Ambulatory Care Network patients at both the East and West Campuses. • Article publication in Obesity journal and presentation at the NYU Langone Comprehensive Program on Obesity’s symposium on COVID-19 and Obesity on using telehealth to serve children with obesity during COVID-19. • Transformation into a virtual program during COVID-19, serving patients through telehealth clinical visits and providing virtual exercise and nutrition education groups for kids and parents through Zoom.
• Foundations in Lifestyle Medicine course presentation to Weill Cornell Medicine students, 2017. • Presentation of Health for Life research results to the Weil Cornell Medicine Atkins Journal Club.
