2014-08-05_PR Comm Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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"I like to listen and find out what it is my patients like to do," Zarr says, "and then gauge the parks based on their interests, based on their schedules, based on the things they're willing to do." There are other park prescriptions projects getting started across the country, but none have matched the level of detail in Zarr's parks database. To Get Kids Exercising, Schools Are Becoming Creative Many children aren't used to going to parks, notes Dr. Steven Pont, medical director for the Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity in Austin. "If you didn't grow up in a family that went camping or experienced outdoors and if you're more from an urban environment, then going out to a park and experiencing nature might seem a little daunting," Pont says. A program like Zarr's can help reduce that discomfort, Pont says. "The park prescriptions really help kids and families engage and get to those parks and say, 'Hey, I belong here too.' " Most Teens Aren't Active Enough, And It's Not Always Their Fault Of course, not every park is safe, especially in the District. The neighborhood next to one of the parks Zarr discussed with Kelssi, Kingman Island, had 30 incidents of violent crime over the past year. "The more parks are used, the more people are there, the safer and the better they are," Zarr says. "We want people first and foremost to be safe, and be active and be part of the solution to fixing parks that aren't quite what they should be." Ultimately, Zarr says, he wants his parks database to exist in an app, on your smartphone, where doctors and patients alike can use it. And, one day he'd like to be able to track his patients' activity in parks, to find out exactly how much good a little green space can do. Zarr with Kellsi Aguilar and her father, Felipe, in Zarr's Washington, D.C., office. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/07/14/327338918/to-make-children-healthier-a-doctor-prescribes-a-trip-to-the-park