Photo By Jennifer Scales | Veterans, employees and of course Dr. Vijay Shivaswamy, endocrinology physician of the...... read more read more
Walking with a doctor might be something new to the Veterans, employees and physicians of the Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System. But it is a national program whose mission is to basically encourage people of all ages to reverse their sedentary lifestyle and improve their health.
This was the objective for the team of walkers who gathered Aug. 9 at the Omaha VA Medical Center to hear Dr. Vijay Shivaswamy, endocrinology physician, speak about preventing type 2 diabetes before their walk began…and sometimes along the route.
Beginning with statistics, Shivaswamy stated that “approximately 84 million Americans have pre-diabetes.”
“Ninety percent who have prediabetes don’t know they have it, therefore it must be diagnosed with a blood test,” Shivaswamy added.
He stressed the importance of getting exercise, even in the smallest measures. Such as watching TV while standing or getting off for your destination two bus stops away, if it is safe to do so. These are what he called the ‘non-exercise exercises.’
Walkers also stated that now that it’s football season, they could get down on the floor and do leg lifts of push-ups if their team scores points.
Of course, some of the walkers bought up the other ‘d’ word---diets.
“Well, all diets are great as long as you can keep doing them,” Shivaswamy said. “The point is to eat in moderation and try to incorporate some type of movement. You see results by doing those two little things, without having to spend extra money.”
Colette McCarthy, call center medical support assistant, is now the organizer for the monthly ‘Walks with a Doc.’
“These [walks] were already in place here at the Omaha facility,” McCarthy said. “It’s also an opportunity to gather together as a community with our Veterans and other staff members as we learn about a medical topic we wouldn’t normally get a chance to discuss.”
Each month a different physician is on the rotation to be the pinpoint ‘walking doctor’ to share information with those attending the walk.
The website, https://walkwithadoc.org has additional information on joining a walk, starting a walk, supporting a walk and reading about other teams and doctors.
| Date Taken: | 08.09.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 08.13.2018 18:19 |
| Story ID: | 288597 |
| Location: | OMAHA, NEBRASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 80 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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