style habits. The focus is not on how much weight a child needs to lose, but rather on what is his or her healthy weight, Dr. DeRusso says. “Sometimes it is hard for people to know how to be healthy,” she explains. “So we want to help them know what is good nutrition and good exercise and give them good tips.” Dr. DeRusso mentions an 11-year-old girl who had been eating a lot of fast food and wasn’t exercising. She was experiencing health problems, too. After a few months working with Dr. DeRusso’s team, the girl had lost a considerable amount of weight. “Most importantly, she feels really happy and she is really proud,” Dr. DeRusso says. The program involves the whole family, not just the child. If the rest of the family adopts healthy habits, it will be much easier for the child to eat nutritious foods and exercise regularly. “The only way the program works is if the whole family gets into it,” Dr. DeRusso says. When a family arrives at the Healthy Weight Program, the team members ask a lot of questions to understand what’s going on in the child’s life, from sleep habits to screen time. They also give the child a physical checkup. Sometimes a child has medical problems such as diabetes or high cholesterol that need to be treated, and these become part of the family’s program goals. Patricia DeRusso, M.D. Helping children understand good nutrition and exercise When Dr. Patricia DeRusso was growing up, she participated in almost every sport that was available to her. She could be found on a diving board, tennis court, ice rink, ski slope, and soccer field— just to name a few. As an adult, she is still active. She runs four days a week, and she logs about four miles each time she sets out. Dr. DeRusso takes care of herself in other ways, too. She eats nutritious meals and limits junk food in her diet. She doesn’t watch a lot of TV and she tries to get a good night’s sleep. Health is so much a part of her life that she has made it her mission to help others become fit. “I think being healthy makes you feel really good,” she says. “I like to be healthy, so I want to help kids be healthy.” For the past few years, Dr. DeRusso has over- seen the Healthy Weight Program at The Chil- dren’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The goal of the program is to help each child learn positive life- 4