UH St. John Walkers Top 30,000 Miles!

UH St. John Medical Center’s Community Outreach Department continued to promote and inspire better health with their 6th annual Walking and Wellness Challenge.

This year, eight local communities gathered enthusiastic teams that collectively walked 60,826,019 steps (over 30,000 miles) in a 6-week period.

“Each year has expanded to include new communities and this year was more fun than ever before,” said Paul Forthofer, Manager of Community Outreach at St. John Medical Center.

This year’s Challenge included several presentations at UH St. John, a Scavenger Hunt at Crocker Park, and a 6 Weeks to Wellness program created by Kathryn Eyring, host of Aging Gracefully (www.AgingGracefully.TV), a website for people over 50, that promotes a long healthy life without regrets.

Participants were offered free pre- and post-screenings for cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure, waist circumference, weight and BMI. The results were substantial. By the end of the six-week period, lower blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol and BMI were recorded with an impressive total weight loss of 282.4 pounds.

All teams were invited to an awards ceremony and luncheon at the Westlake Recreation Center two weeks ago. The large room was filled to capacity with an energetic group of people over 50 years of age. It was an inspiring afternoon as the winning statistics were read from each team.

The winning team for the second consecutive year was the Walkers of Westlake (WOW), creating plenty of applause when the announcement was made. Mayor Clough was present as he cheered on his Westlake team.

The Community Outreach Program expressed gratitude to all of the walkers from the participating communities and the generosity of sponsors that contributed to the program, luncheon, and bounty of awards.

This year’s Walking and Wellness Challenge welcomed 238 participants from 8 communities, who also completed a ‘Passport to Wellness’ to learn about preventive measures to decrease the risk of chronic diseases or to self-manage current health issues.

Extras included 3 nutrition talks from UH St. John healthcare professionals: Julie Wise RD, LD, CDE Marge Robison, RD, LD, CDE and Chef John Ellis. They heard a health talk about osteoporosis by Dr. Juan Solis in a walk and talk event at Great Northern, with an opportunity to receive bone density screening by UH St. John Community Outreach Nurses.

Collectively, walkers decreased their glucose 1,181 points, decreased cholesterol by 2,625 points, decreased systolic BP 720, and decreased weight by 282.4 lbs.

Westlake, Team WOW was the winner of the Challenge!

Top walkers with over 1 million steps for 6 weeks were both from Westlake – Chyral Becka and Marilyn Kovach. Top weight loss was 11.6 lbs also from Westlake as well as the top decrease in Blood Pressure.

“We are especially happy that many of the walkers decreased their high blood pressures!’ said Mary Kiczek, RN BSN, Community Outreach Coordinator. “Every Senior Center had outstanding health improvements. Walkers set personal goals and also worked hard for the success of their teams.”

The teams involved in the challenge included Team Happy Feet (Avon), Team Aging Gracefully (Avon Lake), Team Sole Mates (Bay Village), Team Heart and Sole (Lakewood), Team River Rocks (Rocky River), Team N.O. Mercy (North Olmsted), Team Wicked Walkers (North Ridgeville) and Team WOW (Westlake).

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