Hollister physician associate fights child obesity with family program

By Zoe Hunt

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    HOLLISTER, California (KSBW) — It’s National Physician Associate Week, and one physician associate from Hollister is going above and beyond to make a difference in the lives of Hollister families.

Native Nicole Shelton is taking action against the high child obesity rates in Hollister through her program. Healthy Family Homes is a partnership with the local Hollister YMCA, which aims to improve her young patient’s health by working with the whole family.

“Children don’t cook, they don’t do grocery shopping, they don’t plan the daily skills or the schedule,” said Shelton. “So, you really have to go after the whole home if you want to have an impact on the child’s overall health.”

Once a patient joins, alongside their family, they get access to the local YMCA gym, wellness and fitness workshops, personal training, and more.

“It’s been actually amazing for us because it has given us the opportunity to have control over our health,” said mom Veronica Guerrero.

The program also allows patients to join fun, healthy lifestyle events such as cooking demonstrations or a 5K run.

“I have families that are doing their first 5Ks. We do a big river run for the YMCA, and the families can participate,” said Shelton. “Watching them run that three miles and have that confidence to do it, that’s awesome.”

Her pediatric patients must meet a certain medical criterion to qualify for the program– for example, abnormal laboratory values such as pre-diabetes or high blood pressure.

Now, Shelton said she’s seeing successful results in the kids’ health.

“Not only laboratory values going from pre-diabetic to normal labs,” said Shelton. “Confidence, less bullying, mental health, happiness.”

Participants are also feeling the difference.

“With this program, I was able to lose a lot of weight, and I was able to feel better about myself, more confident about myself for a change,” said program participant Adrian Badillo. “I feel like if I just keep doing this program, well, I can do anything.”

The program is not only bringing Shelton closer to her patients, who she says have become like family. It is also bringing the families together as they share their health journey and empower each other.

“I feel a lot calmer, and I really like it because they could just come with my mom and just take all the stress out here,” said program Emma Guerrero.

“I feel like by coming to the gym with my whole family, I give them the motivation to see good, healthy habits and to continue moving forward with that.”

Shelton said the program currently has 267 participants, and it is only growing. She hopes to have it expand beyond her clinic, reaching more patients and more towns.

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