San Pasqual diabetes program keeps students in shape

Children at San Pasqual Elementary School in Winterhaven ran more than 9,000 miles this past school year as part of a program to battle diabetes.

Dresana Palone, 10, ran 130 miles. Palone said she runs, “because I like to. I was bored of playing so I decided to run.”

The program is the brain child of Tom Vosberg, aka Dr. Lubb Dubb, who works for the Quechan Indian Tribe Special Diabetes Project.

Vosberg is a tall man who dons a giant red heart on his head and a white doctor's jacket to encourage the students to run during their recess at the school.

Kieran Palone, 8, said Dr. Lubb Dubb inspires him to run.

“If Dr. Lubb Dubb wasn't there, I would be just walking. But if he is there I'll be running. Running helps my heart!”

San Pasqual students attend physical education classes twice a week. Since October, Vosberg has used his program to get the kids active every day by running around a 110-yard track.

“It is actually a supplemental education program because the kids I was teaching were getting less and less time to be physically active and I thought, in addition to the two times a week they have P.E. Why not have a daily supplemental program where they can be active for 10 minutes to just improve the amount of time they have to exercise?” he said.

According to Vosberg, the kids get a stick for completing each lap. The sticks are later counted to find out how far each kid ran.

“Sixteen laps is one mile, and lots of these kids can actually get 16 laps within a 10-minute period,” he said.

“In fact some of them run twice and they want to do it. We'll run them back to back and give them a five minute break in between. Nobody has to do it, but a lot of them opt to run for a second time.”

The kids enjoy the exercise, Vosberg said.

“It gets a little competitive, but we try not to stress that aspect of it. We have kids who ran 155 miles, and the kid next to him had 152. This is something that is very personal (for the kids) in that all they have to do is put one foot in front of the other.”

Vosberg said since it is fun, kids want to get involved in the running program.

“Some of these kids are very athletic, but some are very non-athletic and the beauty of the club is that if you apply yourself and make an effort you can be successful. If you run with the Doc, you win. That's pretty much the sole criteria.”

To keep the kids interested throughout the year, students received rewards for completing certain milestones. After 10 miles, students got a canvas coloring chart with the Dr. Lubb Dubb logo to mark their miles. After 20 miles, students got a gold star medal, at 30 miles a ribbon, at 40 miles a gold heart and at 50 miles a T-shirt.

Vosberg said exercise is important for kids because it sets them up for healthier living habits as adults.

“If at a very young age we make an impression on them, that this is something that we value and they actually see us doing it, they grow up with this as a part of their value system. Then they know taking care of themselves is important... and I think many of these kids will carry it on.”

Vosberg said it is up to the adults mentoring children to instill good habits.

“By setting the example, we impress upon them that it is important to us and unfortunately in some places, kids get the impression it is not very important because it is something that is way secondary. Fortunately, because of the Quechan Special Diabetes Project, we have the money available to make it a part of the curriculum at the school.”

Vosberg said diabetes can be particularly problematic for Native Americans, which is why getting the elementary kids running is so important.

“If we keep their weight down and keep them active (it will help).”