West Side children learn to make healthy choices by cleaning up a park in their neighborhood.
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More than a hundred West Side children took three mornings out of their summer to revive a city park near many of their homes. They worked out in the heat for hours, cleaning graffiti and painting playground equipment, picnic tables and trash cans. They picked up trash and tidied up the grounds.

But before the kids could enjoy the results of their hard work, there was one more lesson to learn.

“You just picked up trash, and now there are water bottles all over!” said Maria Navarro of Good Samaritan Community Services, which partnered with the UT Health Science Center San Antonio on the project. “It wouldn’t look nice if we left here today and there’s all this trash when we were the ones cleaning it up.”

The children dutifully cleaned up after themselves before starting a game of kickball.

Community service learning project
The cleanup of Vidaurri Park, in the 1200 block of Merida Street, was part of the Healthy Choices for Kids program, a community service learning project of the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics. In its second year, Healthy Choices for Kids promotes fitness, nutrition and healthy relationships, while aiming to reduce teen pregnancy, obesity, diabetes and risky behaviors.

“Our goal is to give low-income Hispanic children the information they need to make healthy choices throughout their lives,” said Adelita G. Cantu. RN, Ph.D., clinical instructor in the Department of Family Nursing Care. Dr. Cantu created the program with Ruth E. Berggren, M.D., director of the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics.

The purpose of the adopt-a-park project was “teaching kids self-esteem and the importance of respecting yourself, respecting community and respecting property,” Dr. Cantu said.

The Healthy Choices curriculum
More than a dozen medical, nursing and undergraduate students attended a three-week boot camp, where they learned to develop a curriculum for teaching adolescents to make healthy choices. The idea for the park cleanup came out of that boot camp. “It was totally their idea,” Dr. Cantu said.

Now the students are implementing their curriculum at a day camp held by Good Samaritan Community Services, located around the corner from Vidaurri Park. In all, they’ll be at Good Sam three days a week for eight weeks.