Natalie Cowling couldn’t have imagined her son could thrive with so little medical intervention. She calls her 13-year-old, with what she calls classic ADHD and mild Asperger’s syndrome, “just a walking miracle.” In recent months he has reduced his medication needs by 45 percent and is thoroughly engaged in the world around him.
Cowling credits her son’s weight loss, focusing abilities and growing interests to proper nutrition and their involvement in Fresh Air Family (FAF).
Fresh Air Family is a model state program, unique in the United States. Working with other outdoor groups and the Alabama Bureau of Tourism, FAF organizes free or almost-free gatherings, from easy hikes to canoeing, camping to marine exploration. Employing options that adapt to wide ability ranges, the organization aims to offer outdoor education programs for all ages, with participants ranging in age from toddlers to 93-year-olds. Although most join just to have fun, the ancillary health benefits have struck area physicians as a referral opportunity.
Dr. David Glasgow of Greenvale Pediatrics has begun spreading the word about Fresh Air Family as an opportunity to give children a connection to the outdoors, with non-competitive exercise and one-on-one time with significant adults. Glasgow, a lifelong outdoorsman, was convinced of the program’s value after taking three of his grandchildren on a FAF trip to Turkey Creek. There they enjoyed a picnic lunch, picked blackberries and slid down a waterfall. Now he prints off the organization’s calendar from the Web as a suggestion for parents seeking exercise and family-centered pursuits.
“A nature connection with a child has an extremely positive effect, to balance what society is throwing at them,” Glasgow said. Glasgow encourages parents to consider how “free and unstructured play is healthy and essential to normal psychological development,” instead of the “very narrow focus on activity” common to organized team sports.
Glasgow said the benefits of a child learning to identify plants, wading a stream or simply spending time with family can provide rich dividends, from easing distractibility to boosting confidence and combating weight gain. Although there are many outdoor groups in Birmingham, Glasgow considers this organization to be unique, providing links not only to nature-rich destinations but also to an all-abilities environment.
Cowling, who recently became managing director of FAF after joining just over a year ago, said the group is eager to accommodate persons of all abilities and backgrounds. A newcomer to Alabama, she was impressed with members’ professional, ethnic and interests diversity as well as by the various wonders of the state, from mountains to sea.
“I’m just in total awe of the natural beauty of Alabama,” she said. “People don’t know what they have in their own state.”
Although Cowling was surprised at the ethnic divisions in a state that should have learned so much from its civil rights past, she said Fresh Air Family proves that common interests do cross boundaries. She said backgrounds, social status, race and other barriers are unnoticed in outings, such as a recent 35-member camping trip to Andalusia, in which all participants were new to outdoor sleepovers. Although the group varies according to the participants in any given activity, “It’s like a big family reunion when we get together.”
That’s particularly important to single parents like Cowling. But she has found other perks. As a State Department volunteer, Cowling recently introduced South Asian visitors to Alabama’s natural beauty. Using her FAF-acquired skills, they made fallen acorns into whistles.
Verna Gates, longtime president of the Birmingham Wildflower Society, is the organization’s founder. Eleven children are board members, with nine adult advisors. Activities are often coordinated with already-existing programs of botanical gardens, nature museums and other groups.
Inspired in part by Richard Louv’s book “Last Child in the Woods,” which links ADHD and depression to sedentary, indoor lifestyles, and in part by the American Academy of Pediatrics’ focus on social and medical health, Glasgow is spreading the FAF word in his pediatric circle. But he believes its benefits overlap other medical fields.
“This is a unique group with a mission that has not been addressed,” Glasgow said.
Gates has seen all ages benefit from the program. “We are also finding that a large number of seniors are joining our group. They enjoy the moderate exercise and companionship as well.”
For more information, log onto www.FreshAirFamily.org. Along with an activities calendar, the Web site also includes on-your-own ideas throughout the state, from birding trails to arboretums, canyons to farms.
August 2007
