HOUSTON – Several days a week, 16-year-old Louis Canales exercises in southwest Houston.
“I wake up at five in the morning and I go to the gym for two hours,” Canales said.
This kind of discipline is a huge transformation from where he was two years ago when he met with Susanna Reich, a nurse at his school who was concerned about his health.
“Louis was really a dream patient because he’s very motivated. Not everyone is as motivated as Louis was, and he had the support of his family. Everybody wanted to make changes, it wasn’t just him by himself. I think one thing that’s important is that the family supports and goes on the journey with the patient,” Legacy Community Health nurse Susanna Reich said.
Louis weighed over 300 pounds before Reich helped teach him about triglycerides, heart disease and healthy eating.
“I got out of my comfort zone. I started losing weight,” Canales said.
Legacy Community Health has clinics providing mental and physical health checks in 30 schools across the Houston area at Yes Prep, KIPP and in Galena Park. If it weren’t for that easy access to healthcare providers, many students may not get this kind of quality care.
“It saves the kids from leaving school and it also saves the parents from leaving work,” Reich said.
“Susanna had helped me a lot. She would motivate me every single day to eat better and to do right, and I think I needed that motivation to keep going,” Canales said.
In total, Canales lost 100 pounds and gained strength, endurance and confidence.
“When I grow up, I don’t want to be worrying about my health, I want to live my life, you know, healthy and everything,” he said.