Salt Lake City, Utah – April 21, 2011 – Helping children and teens make good nutrition and fitness choices is now as simple as a click or a shake on your iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or Android device.
 
Intermountain Healthcare, the hospital system based in Salt Lake City, has released an innovative, fun-to-use and FREE mobile application available for download from iTunes, or the Android Market.
 
The new application is part of Intermountain’s LiVe campaign which reaches out to parents and children about the importance of increasing physical activity and adopting healthier eating habits to prevent obesity.   Intermountain Healthcare is renowned for creating and using technology to improve patient care while saving lives and money. The health system consists of 23 hospitals and more than 150 clinics in Utah and Idaho.
 
The LiVe application:
 
·         Makes it easier to set fitness and healthy eating goals. For example, the app uses a roulette function to help you generate ideas to increase your physical activity. Select what type of activity you’re interested in – inside games, outside games, night games – shake the phone, and an activity is suggested.
 
·         Guides users in tracking progress.  For example, using the application’s Healthy Food Tracker, users can record how many fruits and vegetables they have eaten in a given day along with how many servings of water they have had.  The app also allows a user to record how many physical activities they have done and track their overall progress.
 
·         Allows you to invite your friends to be part of LiVe—to help them make good choices, to be more active, and eat healthy foods.
 
·         Links to LiVe TV and radio commercials, posters and information.

The application provides fun suggestions based on  LiVe’s Eight Healthy Habits:
 
o       Always eat breakfast – and make it healthy
o       Eat more fruits and vegetables
o       Limit – or eliminate – sweetened drinks
o       Limit screen time – TV, video games, internet
o       Increase your physical activity
o       Eat meals together as a family – sitting down
o       Be positive about food
o       Don’t criticize about weight
 
In addition to the LiVe application, the innovative campaign includes social advertising, school presentations, educational materials for health providers and a kid-friendly website with many engaging features such as interactive games and quizzes and links to community resources parents can rely on for support (www.intermountainlive.org).
 
 “According to recent studies, one out of every three American children is overweight,” said Intermountain’s Dr. Tamara Sheffield.  “Our goal with the LiVe campaign is to approach this important issue from a child’s point of view and offer positive, helpful solutions for families.  LiVe can help children be more physically active and make more healthy food choices.  By coordinating with children, parents, schools and the medical community, we can reverse the direction this crisis is heading.”
 
Intermountain Healthcare is a nonprofit health system based in Salt Lake City, Utah, with 23 hospitals, over 900 employed physicians, a broad range of clinics and services, and health insurance plans. It is the largest medical provider in the Intermountain West with over 32,000 employees.  Intermountain serves the healthcare needs of Utah and southeastern Idaho residents and is widely recognized as a leader in clinical quality improvement and in efficient healthcare delivery.