By Lisa Carolin
When the New Year begins, physical fitness often becomes a priority for people after lots of excessive eating during the holiday season.
Tips on how to prevent overeating, and how to find time for exercise are part of the message from the Healthy Communities Walking Program.
The current mission of the program is:
- to decrease the proportion of adults who are overweight from 50 percent to 40 percent.
- to increase the proportion of adults who attain at least 30 minutes of moderate activity five days per week or 20 minutes of vigorous activity three days per week from 49 percent to 62 percent.
The program spreads the word about itself through community walks and walking maps, community fairs, social media, word of mouth, and the St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea’s LiveWell.
It started after the 2000 Washtenaw County survey showed that people living in Chelsea, Dexter and Manchester were more overweight and obese, and less physically active than the rest of the county.
“Chelsea Community Hospital’s (now St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea (SJMC)) Community Health Improvement Council identified this problem as an opportunity to have a positive impact on this population’s health and well-being,” said Karla Bernath, the community point person responsible for recruiting and enrolling participants in the free program.
Bernath provides support to participants. She leads group walks and does data collection at enrollment, at six months and at 12 months.
“At enrollment, measurements are taken of participants’ BMI, current level of activity, and healthy days (including physical and mental health.) said Bernath. “Participants are given a log book and instructed on how to keep track of their waking.”
Volunteers lead monthly or bimonthly group walks. More than 1,350 participants have enrolled in the program and 580 participants have completed the program since it began in 2003.
According to Bernath, in Chelsea/Dexter, 58 percent of the population is overweight but that 50 percent of the population gets at least 150 minutes of exercise.
“The Healthy Communities Walking Program is a free program that has proven results,” said Bernath. “Over the 12 years this program has been available, participants have an average of 10.8 percent decrease in BMI, 15.7 percent increase in days of moderate exercise, 22.4 percent increase in days of vigorous exercise and 53 percent decrease in days in the month mental health has not been good as reported by participants.”
The Healthy Communities Steering Committee developed walking maps for each of the 5 Healthy Communities and has added benches and bike racks along some of the paths.
More information on Healthy Communities Walking Program is available here and here.
