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Michigan Public Health Workers Take Steps to Healthier Lifestyles

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 September 2005, 03:00 CDT

Issues at the state and community levels

MORE than 2,400 Michigan public health workers laced up their walking shoes last fall for a 16-week walking challenge to promote physical activity, logging more than 800 million steps and changing lifestyles in the process.

Employees of Michigan's health departments donned pedometers and competed on teams during the "Public Health Steps Up Challenge," organized by Michigan's Department of Community Health, part of the state surgeon general's office. The challenge was part of the Michigan Steps Up campaign, in which state Surgeon General Kimberlydawn Wisdom, MD, an APHA member, urges all state residents to "Move More, Eat Better, and Don't Smoke."

Two previous Michigan Steps Up challenges were organized for the state's legislators and faith leaders, and Wisdom's office created the Public Health Steps Up Challenge after local health departments showed interest in participating to set a healthy example for the entire state.

Public health workers aimed to take at least 10,000 steps a day, and were given pedometers to track their steps. They could also enter their results and get feedback on their progress through the program's Web site. Participants said that counting their steps helped them realize how much exercise they needed, and how little they were actually getting.

"It didn't click how little I was moving during a typical day sitting at my desk in front of my computer, working for eight hours," said Tiffany Menard, the communications coordinator for the Michigan Department of Community Health. "When I finished the first day, looking at my pedometer I realized I hadn't even taken an eighth of the steps I should have been taking."

Seeing the numbers for themselves and reaching for a common goal with co-workers helped motivate workers to belter themselves, participants told The Nation's Health.

"It really heightened our awareness of how much we needed to move and most of us changed our habits," said Sue Amato, MA, the director of health education and planning for the St. Clair County Health Department. "It just becomes part of your life and if it's the end of the day and you haven't moved, you get out there and do it."

The program ran from September 2004 to December 2004, intentionally encompassing the cold weather and temptations of the holiday season to further challenge participants to stay on track.

For some who took the challenge, the experience was life- changing.

Veronica Constantine, the program supervisor for the Kent County animal shelter, part of the county's health department, said that after college she became less physically active, but that the competition jump-started her fitness routine.

"During the program, I got a little obsessed," she said. "I was walking 20,000 steps a day."

Now, Constantine runs and competes in 5K races.

"It was definitely a lifestyle change for me," she said.

Committing to health and fitness means that making time for exercise becomes a priority, which can be overwhelming on top of work and family commitments, said Denise Bryan, a challenge participant who has dropped 135 pounds and gone from a sedentary lifestyle to completing a marathon in the past two years.

Bryan, the personal health services supervisor at the Kent County Health Department, said the program fit in with her goals and allowed her to inspire others who witnessed her progress.

"It's easy to make excuses, but if you make the commitment it's more simple than you think," she said. "I would tell people, 'hey, I started with a 15-minute walk.'"

Taking time to focus on her own health has made Bryan a better mother, wife and employee, she said, which is why it is important for employers to give workers opportunities to get healthy, such as sponsoring challenges and providing fitness equipment. It also improves morale and productivity in the workplace, she said.

"There's a ripple effect when people are exercising and feeling better, and attitudes have changed," she said.

Menard, who helped coordinate the program at the Department of Community Health, said she hopes other employers and community organizations will sponsor similar programs to help employees stay healthy. Her office is working to encourage employers to incorporate small, inexpensive changes that benefit employee health, such as eliminating junk food and giving employees breaks to take a walk.

"We learned a tremendous amount from the challenge...and we had some great lessons that we feel other states and other programs can benefit from," Menard said. "One of the biggest things that we heard was that people realized that it took just a small change to get going (on improving their health and fitness)."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention promotes walking as one of the most accessible ways to exercise. The U.S. surgeon general's office recommends that all people maintain a minimum of 30 minutes of a moderate intensity activity, such as brisk walking, on most or all days of the week.

For more information on Michigan Steps Up, visit or view the full text of the challenge's final report at .

- Patii Truant

Copyright American Public Health Association Sep 2005

Source: Nation's Health, The

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