Ellsworth (KS) County Medical Center wants to convince its patients to walk across the United States. And most will do so without leaving Kansas, or even Ellsworth.
The hospital is promoting a program called WOW, or Walking off Weight, which aims to encourage locals to become more active and healthy. Dough Stefek, community outreach coordinator, says the hospital came up with the program after a health assessment survey revealed that 33% of county adults are overweight.
The hook—the hospital is encouraging participants to walk the equivalent of a cross-country trip.
"What we originally were going to do is walk the mileage across Kansas," he says. "I think with the response that we've had—and we've had a pretty good response so far—we're thinking that since Kansas is only 400 miles across, we're thinking that we're going to go ahead and walk across the United States—see how far we can get."
The hospital will display participants' progress on a bulletin board in the lobby and on its Web site. After the first day of registration, 56 people signed up and 20 came to hear more information about the program. Stefek says he hopes 300 will participate.
The program began on October 5 and will run through April 24. On April 25 the hospital will announce the winners—those who walked the farthest and those who lost the most weight—at the local health fair. The top winners will receive prizes.
All participants will receive Walking off Weight T-shirts featuring the program's logo—the word "WOW" with tennis shoes on the bottom of each W. The logo was conceptualized by one Ellsworth's nurse managers and designed by one of its dieticians.
Stefek says that developing a healthier community will ultimately benefit the hospital.
"We're hoping this is going to be a preventative type thing," he says. "With people actively involved in physical exercise [we hope] that they won't be coming into the hospital as much."
Marianne Aiello is an editor with HealthLeaders Media. She can be reached at maiello@healthleadersmedia.com.