Ball State University Health Enhancement Programs is urging students to support faculty who are trying to improve their physical health.
Working Well program director Patty Hollingsworth said the employee health enhancement program Working Well will kick off their new fitness walking initiative "Start Where You Are" with the McKinley Mile. President Jo Ann Gora will lead the walk Sept. 4 on McKinley Avenue, she said.
The day's activities will continue with a health and wellness fair from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Quad, Hollingsworth said.
The fair will provide faculty and staff with blood pressure screenings, information on nutritional counseling, Weight Watchers At Work and the adult fitness program, she said.
There will also be registration for the walking initiative for campus staff at the fair, she said.
The "Start Where You Are" program is designed for faculty, but Hollingsworth said she hopes students are supportive of the professors and other staff they come in daily contact with.
"My job is to say, 'How can students support their faculty and staff and support them in their wellness journey?'" she said. "Students should be creative as to how they support the faculty and staff. That moral support is greatly appreciated."
Throughout the six-week program, participating staff will be able to track their individual progress and compete as a team against staff from other colleges, Hollingsworth said.
"We want staff and faculty to raise their awareness of the choices they make," she said. "It's the everyday choices that people make that have the greatest impact on their health. We want [staff] to take a minute to think about the things they want to change. It's not the major things we want people to change; it's that one thing they are going to stick with."
The McKinley Mile and several other routes around campus will eventually be marked for future use, Hollingsworth said. She said she did not know when the routes will be marked, but Working Well's Web site has a map with several marked walking paths and their distances.
Kent Bullis, physician and medical director of the Health Center, said fitness walking is an effective way for adults to stay in shape.
"One of the huge benefits of walking is it helps prevent osteoporosis, a problem for older Americans and adults particularly," he said. "People that get outdoors and walk regularly tend to experience improvements in their overall physical well-being."
Walking helps stabilize cholesterol levels and decreases the likeliness of coronary heart disease and heart attacks, Bullis said.
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