Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Do You Walk?

I met a nice fellow at the booth for Amazing Charts while I was at Pri-Med last week. He is a clinical Prof. at UCLA (that other school here in town) and he is contemplating a private venture which he would use AC for. We talked and he is coming to my office next week to shadow me and go for a blind leading the blind tour of EMR's. He is involved in Diabetic teaching and community outreach and I told him I would hit him up for some ideas that we could use.
So when he called today to confirm the date, he said he had a project for me. They are completing a multi year study of an outreach to get diabetic patients walking. The people get involved because of a little nudge from the Doctor, and stay on the program because they enjoy the camaraderie of the group.
They supply tee-shirts, (funded by the local Rotary)which gives the group a sense of identity and helps to draw in more walkers. And it provides a billboard for your practice to advertise on. (And yes it occurred to me that the people walking might get a friend or neighbor to walk who is not yet my patient, but will be walking an hour a day, staring at an advertisement for my practice.)
I immediately saw the 'free text' being used, add 'wants to walk' in the social history or 'already walks' for those with a good route and a willingness to share. When you have enough in the database, and the snow has melted, (mentally, I am in So.Cal!!) you search "already walks" by zip code. You put together a route that swings by as many as possible so the route is a loop that goes a mile or two, and people can join as it passes, then continue the loop until they return home. When the route is established then you contact, "wants to walk" by the same zipcode and get it going.
I have some hazy fears about the issue of liability if the office appears to be more than an observer (and of course it is the instigator) but I will try to avoid the liability for every dog bite, MVA and flash flood. Sometimes you just got to get off the porch no matter what your legal counsel advises.

This is already up in my waiting room:
Attention all Walkers!

• Do you walk on a regular basis?
• Do you have a good route around your neighborhood that is safe, pleasant and “just the right” length?

Please consider helping us as we facilitate our patients discovering the health benefits of regular walks.
If you would be willing to tell us the route you take and the time of day that it is pleasant to walk that route we would like to share it with others in our practice. We will also be happy to have your help if you would be willing to walk with some of your neighbors who may be new to the idea of taking a walk just for the health of it!

Do you need to walk?
If you have Hypertension, High Cholesterol, Diabetes, or if you just need to lose a few pounds you DO need to walk. Join us as we put together groups to “get the lead out” and collect the benefits of going for a walk.

Did you know that studies have shown that if we could maintain a healthy weight, and walk just one hour each day, we would reduce our risk of ALL SERIOUS ILNESS BY 50%! Think of that. And it is free.

 
I am interested: _________________
I already walk _____
I want to walk _____
I can share my route with you, but I don’t want to participate:
My favorite route is:

This will be a footnote in my hour at the conference in Branson. I am anxious to see how many other ideas the rest of you have.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Martin,
It is late and I need to go home, but I just saw this and had to say, way to go! Are all rotaries involved in this because a doctor couple set of friends of ours are member last I knew and our practices are on opposite sides of town, so we could both do it and not even "step" on one another.... Thanks for the tip, here in the snow rust belt, it is the winter that kills most folks around here. While I, Hockeyref usually drop weight in the winter and then gain in the summer as I skate less and do more B-que's too.... mmmmmmm, burgeeerrrrrsssss....

Darn- I got to walk... Thanks for reminding me!

Just curious, did you think of getting some local podiatrists involved? Or some pedorthics? I'm both, a podiatrist and pedorthic using AC. I'm on the other side of the country though. Is the podiatry school near you?
Sam M. Horowitz, DPM, FACFAS, C.Ped

Hi Sam, No I hadn't thought of DPM's specifically but I discussed with my partners the benefit of extending this plan to other Dr.s in our area. Specifically I was thinking of other PCP's in our area who are also in our IPA. I was thinking of the larger database, allowing the group to reach critical mass sooner. I feel that the small risk of loosing a patient to another PCP would be offset by much greater likelihood that you will gain patients from the expanding group as the walkers bring in neighbors and friends. Extending this to my Podiatrists in our area makes a LOT more sense on several levels. Thanks for the idea.

As for a local school, my own alma mater, the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, (COMP) has grown considerably in past 20 years and now as Western University of Health Sciences includes a school of Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, a PA program and this year added a school of Podiatric medicine. The school is about 30 miles away however.

And by the way, welcome to the forum!

I like to walk. I try to go several times per week.
I hate the treadmill though, ugh.

That's why I skate. Skating is one of the lowest impact types of lower body exercise too. For folks with bad knees it can be a real find. Nice smooth steady strokes as opposed to the constant pounding of running treadmills or jogging too.

Now granted getting wiped out behind the net by some 6' tall power foward as you charge to the net to make the call, can be sort of considered "high impact" too. Just watch out along the boards as those big defensemen try to rip it down the ice on a penalty kill. Seriously watch the officials one night (cup finals are on right now as a matter of fact) as the defense trys to ice the puck on a PK, and watch as they all "duck" to try and get out of the way... That's sort of high impact too I guess, but I love it.

I think I hear my kid wimpering so let me run....

False alarm....