Beyond the Lab Coat – Community Health Initiatives

We don’t have to tell you that goal-setting isn’t reserved for January 1, in fact, one of our favorite times of year to revisit and set new goals is the start of spring.

The weather is warming up, the sun is shining more, and motivation to live a healthier life picks up again, which got us thinking about a story we saw on the news recently about the community health initiative, “Walk with a Doc.”

At the start of this program, which is now in eight countries and almost 200 locations, Dr. David Sabgir aimed to have his patients get outside and be active with him.

The aim? To walk the walk and not just talk the talk when it came to taking action in improving the health of his patients.

Whether you’re a physician or an HR manager in charge of encouraging employee wellness, we’d love for you to accept our goal-setting challenge as we start the new season. Ready for it?

We challenge you to create a healthy practice that uses the encouragement and support of a group to succeed.

Here are a few of our favorite ideas:

• Form a walking group that meets during lunch hour or after work.

• Pool together healthy recipes and create a custom cookbook with easy, healthy meals.

• Sign up as a group for a fun fitness event you can all complete together.

• Host a healthy lunch potluck in your office or department twice a month.

• Create a health accountability group.

No matter what you choose to do, the overarching goal is to practice what we preach in our profession (we know a ton of our customers are in the health industry) and use the power of people to help support and cheer each other on in the quest to lead healthier lives.

Do you already have a community health program like this in your workplace? We’d love to hear about it!

If not, let us know what you’re going to do to meet our challenge!