| Multigenerational Playground |
| Friday, 05 August 2011 18:03 | |||
 Lauderhill, Florida, August 2011— This southern Florida city has joined forces with others and will construct a new multigenerational playground at its Ruth Rothkopf Park. The new playground, funded by Humana, is based on personal drawings created by children and seniors during a community Design Day held earlier this summer. www.kaboom.org
The new playground will provide a safe place to play for more than 1,200 children along with their parents and grandparents. Up until this week, children who played at Ruth Rothkopf Park only had a small amount of old, outdated equipment to enjoy. The new multigenerational playground will accommodate people of all ages and abilities and provide a diverse gathering area for Lauderhill residents. Volunteers from Humana and the community will build the new, 2,500 square foot playground. This unique space is designed to encourage physical activity for all ages at a time when obesity is taking an ever-larger toll on our nation. It will include five stand-alone exercise stations for adults and senior citizens to enjoy. Volunteers will also build new picnic tables, benches, shade areas and an enhanced walking path. This innovative space will be the first playground funded by Humana through its partnership with KaBOOM! For 15 years, KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit whose vision is to create a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America, has been building playgrounds to fight Play Deficit (the lack of play in the lives of America’s children). This lack of play is having profound consequences on kids’ health and well-being. Today’s kids spend less time playing outside than any previous generation in part because only one in five children live within walking distance of a park or playground. As a leading health care company and Florida’s largest provider of Medicare health plans, Humana understands the close connection between activity and overall health and well-being. According to researchers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there is a direct correlation between the Play Deficit and childhood obesity: In neighborhoods without a park or playground, the incidence of childhood obesity increases 29 percent. In fact, children with a park or playground within half a mile are almost five times more likely to be a healthy weight than children without playgrounds or parks nearby. For more information about those involved with this endeavor, visit www.FLIPANY.org, www.humana.com, or www.kaboom.org. SOURCE: City of Lauderhill, Florida
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