Getting in motion

NGHP sponsoring Two Million-Mile Challenge

Charles Oliver

Walking, simply walking, can do wonders for the body.

Just ask Dalton’s Pati Kelley. She decided to start walking regularly about three months ago.

“When I started, I tried to walk once a day at least 30 minutes. That quickly became an hour. Now, on days that I work, I walk one hour. On days that I don’t work I walk two hours, once in the morning and once at night,” she said.

“I have lost about 34 pounds to date. I’ve got about 35 pounds to go to reach my goal,” she said.

That’s just the most obvious results. But Kelley has seen other changes that are even more important. A diabetic for more than 20 years, Kelley says her blood sugar has plunged and she no longer needs insulin or other drugs to control her diabetes.

She says she used to come home from work exhausted.

“Now, I’ve got much more energy. I feel so much better,” she said. “And I’m not one of those people that power walks. I walk about a 15-minute mile.”

Kelley is one of thousands of people from across the metro Dalton area taking part in the Two Million-Mile Challenge, which is sponsored by the Northwest Georgia Healthcare Partnership, a collaborative effort of health care providers, businesses, education and local governments.

“Our goal is to get people moving. And the challenge is an effort to get people in Whitfield and Murray counties to walk, jog, run, swim or bicycle two million miles (in 2009),” said Ali Donahue, marketing director for the partnership.

The partnership has been tracking the body mass index of children in Dalton, Whitfield and Murray County schools for the past four years.

“We’ve just gotten the results for the fourth year, and things have not gotten better. Over half of our children are still overweight or obese,” Donahue said. “It’s a huge issue.”

Partnership officials began to look for some way to promote exercise and a healthy lifestyle.

“We were looking for something that families could do together, that was cheap and that was easy,” said Skeeter Pierce, chairwoman of the partnership.

They got their inspiration from the Bill Gregory Health Care Classic run the partnership hosts each spring.

“We have a lot of families take part in that,” Pierce said.

Kelley says one of the great advantages of walking is that it is convenient.

“It’s so easy. You don’t need to have a membership anywhere. You don’t need fancy equipment. A decent pair of tennis shoes is all you need,” she said. “When I walk I spend a lot of time on prayer and meditation or I have my iPod. But you can get someone to walk with you and make it a social time.”

Pierce said there are plenty of places to walk in Dalton, from the many local parks to the downtown walking trails created by the Downtown Dalton Development Authority. Kelley agrees.

“We are lucky that we’ve got so many great places in Dalton to walk. About 99 percent of the time I walk at Heritage Point. Dalton Parks (and Recreation) has done us proud there. It’s a beautiful park. It’s a very family-oriented, safe-feeling park,” she said.

Several local companies are taking part in the challenge. In fact, Beaulieu of America has its own one million-mile challenge for its employees.

“We started in January, and after five months we were somewhere between 360,000 and 400,000 miles,” said Beaulieu president and CEO Ralph Boe. “We’ve probably got in the neighborhood of 700 or 800 people taking part, and we hope that more will join us.”

Overall, those taking part in the two million-mile challenge have walked, run, jogged, bicycled or swam 508,966 miles so far, according to Donahue.

Those taking part are urged to track their mileage and report it to the partnership. People who walk 100 miles will get a bronze-colored wrist band. Those who walk or run 500 miles will get a silver-colored wrist band, and those who walk 1,000 miles will get a gold-colored wrist band.

Donahue says just 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days a week can add up to a lot.

“In 30 minutes of walking, you can probably get about two miles in,” she said. “And I tell people that even if you split it up, walk 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening, it will still do you good. People feel that if they can’t get the whole 30 minutes at once it doesn’t do any good. That’s not true.”