Healthy Hoops, an ongoing initiative is a collaboration between AmeriHealth Caritas and Keystone First to educate kids about their health and encourage them to lead more active lives, writes Nate File for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“Our mission is to help people get care, stay well, and build healthy communities,” said Joanne McFall, market president of Keystone First.

The education sessions touch on various topics, such as nutrition, vaping, mental health, and other health subjects.

Asthma is among the main focuses, consider that Philadelphia’s childhood asthma rate is about triple the national rate.

According to a previous Inquirer analysis, children from North Philadelphia, Nicetown, West Philadelphia, and Kingsessing have some of Philly’s highest asthma hospitalization rates.

“Asthma is a big issue and something that we need to use every tool in the tool kit to try to connect with kids who have asthma … to help them understand that you can live a really healthy, active life as long as you have the right tools to manage your asthma,” McFall said.

Healthy Hoops recently hosted a basketball clinic at the Columbia North YMCA. It was led by Coach Joe Richmond, the ambassador of basketball for the Delaware Blue Coats.

He believes basketball is the perfect mechanism to bridge connections between communities and educational programming.

Read more about Healthy Hoops and how it helps kids lead healthier lives in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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