April 24, 2008

The 239,000-mile journey

Collaborative walk promotes way to better health

By Kymberli W. Brady
Special to the Times

Nearly 400 people began a collaborative journey to the moon at noon on April 16—all on foot—in an effort to chart the 541 million steps it will take to get there while promoting as a way to better health.

Participants take the first steps of the 239,000 mile Moon Walk outside Palmer College of Chiropractic's West Campus beginning the start of a healthier life. The objective is to increase worksite physical activities to ensure healthier, more fit employees.

The Silicon Valley Moon Walk Challenge officially cut the ribbon to launch the advocacy campaign at the Palmer College of Chiropractic West Campus and included teams from Palmer College, the San Jose / Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, Nation-wide Insurance and Financial Services, Adaptec, Inc., Marsh Insurance, KLA-Tencor Corporation, Peak Travel and others.

“This is an exciting and important event,” said William Meeker, DC, MPH, president of Palmer’s West Campus. “There is no doubt that concern for our health unites us all. The government, from the federal on down to the state and local jurisdictions, have realized how important health is to our productivity and happiness. One of the objectives is to increase the proportion of worksites offering physical activity and fitness programs. These goals and ob-jectives match up perfectly with Santa Clara County's and the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce’s goals as well.

Meeker applauded Nationwide Insurance and Financial Services for donating hundreds of pedometers to participants for the challenge, and its ongoing efforts to promote pedometer use and walking to better health.

The launch took place shortly after the American Heart Association held its National START! Walking Day, a nationwide call-to-action for Americans to adopt healthy lifestyles and recruit companies to encourage employees to wear sneakers to work and pledge to adopt healthier lifestyles. It also served as the kick-off event to promote the Silicon Valley Heart Walk in September.

The event, held at City Hall, included comments from Mayor Chuck Reed, who then led a contingency of walkers, including 49ers safety Michael Lewis, Ken & Corey from 95.7 The Wolf and Councilmembers Pier-luigi Oliverio, Nora Compos and Sam Liccardo through the streets of downtown San Jose.

“Today is the day to put down that remote, get off the couch, get outside and take a walk,” said Reed. “It’s great, it’s free, it’s easy and it’s good for you.”

Pat Dando, San Jose Chamber of Commerce President/CEO, wearing sneakers and a sweat suit, commended the Chamber’s Heart Walk team for their efforts and spoke of the importance of leading healthier lives to prevent heart disease, diabetes and something she has first-hand experience in—stroke. She attributed healthy living to her complete recovery from a stroke five years ago and continues to encourage people to lead healthy lives.

“I want to praise our Heart Walk team for their efforts,” Dando said. “To date, they have raised nearly $35,000 for AHA research.”

Lewis, the San Francisco 49ers starting safety, showed no signs of fatigue, loss of stamina or any of the typical signs of someone with a heart condition until he was diagnosed in college with a heart condition called atrial fibrillation. He shared his personal story with those in attendance at the event.

“When I took that physical and found out about my condition, the doctor told me the most important thing to do was to get out and walk or run or do any kind of exercise,” Lewis said. “This event is great because it sheds light on a dark situation across the world and it’s something that hopefully will open the eyes of many people to be heart healthy.”

Studies show that for every hour of vigorous exercise, two hours of additional life can be gained. Walking for as little as 30 minutes a day will lead to heart-healthy benefits that can reduce your chance for heart disease, stroke and will improve your overall life. Increasing physical activity is critical to prevention, which is supported by strong evidence that reduces the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes and colon cancer. Additionally, it helps people achieve and maintain a healthy weight, reduces anxiety and depression, enhances psychological well-being, and reduces feelings of stress.

Taking the Moon Walk Challenge: From left: Ken & Corey, morning team from 95.7 The Wolf; Donna, a 49er cheerleader; Linda Garret, Dwight Johnson, and Fred Tierney from Nationwide Insurance & Financial; Laura, a 49er cheerleader; Pat Dando, San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce President/CEO, and Michael Lewis, 49er starting safety.

Exercise also helps build and maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints, while helping older adults become stronger, thus preventing fatigue and falls.

More important, it is a fun activity that can be shared with family and friends of all ages.

In addition to offering an exciting opportunity for the community to participate in a worthy goal, the Silicon Valley Moon Walk Challenge doubles as an advocacy campaign to promote other area walking events, such as the Healthy Parks Challenge, which kicks off on May 19 at Hellyer Park, and the Silicon Valley Heart Walk on Sept. 19 at De Anza College. People participating in these events can help raise critical funds for prevention and research, while having their steps count toward the Moon Walk Challenge—a journey that has never been accomplished before.

“Palmer College of Chiropractic is more than happy to partner with other organizations in the valley to promote daily physical activity,” added Meeker. “We do this to create a more healthy community here in the Santa Clara Valley. We are very pleased to be working with some powerful and influential organizations on this most worthy goal.”

“The best way to take care of our businesses is to take care of our employees,” added Dando. “This challenge provides a great opportunity for businesses to participate in a goal while promoting walking and physical activity. By creating healthier employees, money lost on higher premiums, lost productivity, absenteeism and medical expenses could instead be used to reward our employees with raises and bonuses. Prevention doesn’t cost a lot of money. All we have to do is take the first step.”

Teams throughout Silicon Valley from businesses and organizations are encouraged to join the Moon Walk Challenge and have their steps count. Additionally, schools with upcoming walk-a-thons are invited to participate and have their steps count twice—a 2-for-1 opportunity to raise much needed funds for education, while helping the community reach a record goal in record time. Pedometers will be distributed to participating teams to track step totals. A limited number of pedometers are available and will be provided on a first-come-first-served basis.

For more information on how you can join the Silicon Valley Moon Walk Challenge, visit www.sjchamber.com or contact Randy McDonald at randym@sjchamber.com.

For more information on the AMA Heart Walk, visit http://heartwalk.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=255441. For more information on the Healthy Trails Challenge, visit www.parkhere.org.