Cities like Columbia, S.C., Green Bay, Wisc., Indianapolis, New Orleans, Oakland, Calif., Toledo, Ohio, West Chicago, Ill., and Wichita, Kan., participated in a month-long series of community walks as part of a “Move with the Mayor Challenge” that centered on World Heart Day September 29, 2017.
The cities distributed free Bluetooth step trackers for walkers to mark their progress in the community walks, and mayors also wore them to assess their steps.
I’m involved with Move with the Mayor because it is so important for our community to be healthy. And, if I can be an example of health, then maybe someone else will say, she’s so busy and she’s getting out and walking, maybe I can do the same. So it’s really important that I be an example and that we show folks that it’s easy to do,” said Toledo, Ohio, Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson, according to the forum’s website.
West Chicago, Ill., Mayor Ruben Pineda held 30-minute community walks every Saturday in September. Beforehand, Pineda asked the community to join him in Daily Herald and also wrote about the “ABCS’ for heart disease prevention:
- A is for aspirin: Taking an aspirin each day has been shown to reduce risk of stroke and heart attack. Seek a doctor’s advice.
- B is for blood pressure: Check blood pressure and lower it, if necessary.
- C is for cholesterol. Get cholesterol levels checked, and learn how to lower high levels of unhealthy cholesterol.
- S is for smoking cessation. Smoking is a leading cause of heart disease, so get help to quit.
“If you don’t want to do it for yourself, do it for your family. They want you around for all the great dinners, birthdays, graduations and weddings ahead,” Pineda appealed.
The effort is in partnership with the National Forum for Heart Disease & Stroke Prevention, a non-profit organization with 80 member partners raising awareness about heart disease -- the “silent killer” -- and the United States’ leading cause of death. Heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases kill about 800,000 Americans every year, which is more than all types of cancer combined, according to the forum.
These statistics are particularly tragic because deaths from heart disease are preventable,” said John Clymer, the forum’s executive director, in the announcement.
“Heart disease is killing hundreds of thousands of our friends, neighbors and family members every year,” he added. “Yet too few people realize that it’s the leading cause of death in America. It’s a silent epidemic, and we all must take steps to stop it.”
Walking lowers the risk of heart disease. Just 30 minutes a day can significantly lower your risk of heart disease.
To help spread the message, the mayors led community walks, wrote and participated in the forum’s video messaging. The forum also uses the Thunderclap crowdspeaking platform, this year reaching more than 1.6 million via social message sharing.
