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Press Releases: 2010

Healthy Hoops Pee Dee Challenge Back for Second Year

Fun-filled event teaches kids healthy habits through sports

For those who missed last year’s Healthy Hoops Pee Dee Challenge, be sure to mark your calendars for May 15 when the second annual Healthy Hoops Florence Pee Challenge returns 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at South Florence High School, 3200 S. Irby Street, to teach children how to stay fit and have fun during a free, one-day basketball camp.

Sponsored by Select Health of South Carolina, the South Carolina Asthma Alliance, AmeriHealth Mercy and the Healthy Hoops Coalition, which features a variety of community partners, the Pee Dee Challenge, which is aimed at children ages 7-15, features basketball lessons and tips from professional and local coaches.

The event also places a special emphasis on teaching children with asthma how they can play sports and be active while controlling their disease. More than six million children under the age of 18 suffer from asthma, and the Healthy Hoops Challenge is a positive way to impact those children, their families and their asthma management. But the day is not just about sports. The event also includes free health screenings for children with asthma, along with health education for parents, live entertainment, giveaways, refreshments, and an awards ceremony.

The Healthy Hoops Program, which expanded to South Carolina in 2005, uses the game and principles of basketball as building blocks for teaching participants and their families how to manage asthma through appropriate medication usage, proper nutrition, monitored exercise and a variety of recreational activities.

To be a participant, children must be between the ages of 7-15, suffer from asthma and live in South Carolina. A parent and/or guardian must accompany a participant; siblings are invited.

For more information or to register, call 1-866-HOOPS.SC.

About Select Health
Incorporated in 1995, Select Health was licensed as a Health Maintenance Organization by the South Carolina Department of Insurance in 1996. Later that year, the company contracted with the Department of Health and Human Services to offer First Choice, the state’s first Medicaid health plan. Select Health is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AmeriHealth Mercy. The AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies touches the lives of more than 6.5 million members nationwide.

About the Healthy Hoops Coalition
The Healthy Hoops Coalition serves as a steering committee for the Pee Dee Healthy Hoops Program and includes the following organizations: South Carolina Asthma Alliance; Allergy, Asthma & Sinus Center; American Lung Association; Cheraw-Bennettsville District AME Zion Church; City of Columbia Parks and Recreation Department; City of Florence Parks & Leisure Services; Family Connections of SC; Florence-Darlington Technical College; Florence County First Steps; Florence County Parks and Recreation; Florence School District One; Pee Dee Community Action Partnership; Pee Dee Community Action Partnership Head Start; Safe Kids Florence led by McLeod Health; Small Smiles of Florence; South Florence High School; Carolina Hospital Systems; and Tuomey Healthcare System.