Focus on Pediatrics-Make plans for Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Focus on Pediatrics-Make plans for Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Raise awareness to change dangerous behaviors
Each year during Eating Disorders Awareness Week, organizations across the nation plan events to draw attention to this chronic health problem. One community staged the Great Jeans Giveaway, and encouraged everyone to bring an old pair of jeans that no longer fit as a donation to charity. "The purpose was to encourage them that instead of dieting to squeeze into clothes that don't fit, they should get rid of them," says Caitlin Cowden, program coordinator for Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention (EDAP) in Seattle.
Some organizations have hosted body fairs with such activities as massage therapy and face painting. Others have covered all bathroom mirrors with butcher paper and written messages on the paper that create awareness of eating disorders. Each year, EDAP assembles packets of information to aid professionals in their teaching. Curricula in the past have included presentations on how to help a friend and on the dangers of dieting. The packets include good ideas for events that fit all types of schedules, whether there are two months to plan or two weeks. (For information on the packets, see editor's note below.)
A conference for training coordinators for Eating Disorders Awareness Week will take place Sept. 14-15, 2000, in Scottsdale, AZ. The theme is celebrating diversity in size, color, and gender, and workshops will concentrate on outreach that targets ethnic groups. Speakers will cover gender inequity in the classroom, how eating disorders and suicide interact, and the effect fathers have on daughters in eating disorder prevention.
Eating Disorders Awareness Week is Feb. 25 - March 4, 2001.
[Editor's note: Coordinators' packets for Eating Disorder Awareness Week are available from EDAP at three levels. The gold level costs $165, silver costs $110, and bronze costs $55. The conference for coordinators costs $215 and includes the gold-level coordinator's packet. Scholarships for travel and lodging are available. For more information, contact: EDAP, 603 Stewart St., Suite 803, Seattle, WA 98101. Telephone: (800) 931-2237 or (206) 382-3587. Fax: (206) 829-8501. Web site: www.edap.org.]
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