Community partners included Working for Whitewater’s Wellness (W3)
Fort HealthCare recently challenged area residents and employees to increase their current activity level and improve their health by participating in the Rock the Walk 2013 Challenge.
The 6-week challenge was open to employees of Fort HealthCare, Ball Corporation, Digi-Star, Fort Community Credit Union, Jones Dairy Farm, Nasco, Spacesaver and Standard Process.
Area residents were also invited to join participating community agencies including: Cambridge Activities Program (CAP), Fort Healthy (Fort Atkinson), JUMP (Jefferson), CHIC (Johnson Creek), Rock Lake Activity Center (Lake Mills) and Working for Whitewater’s Wellness (W3).
Participants looking for a new exercise program or wanting to change their current program were motivated by weekly prizes for increasing their activity level. For six weeks, step goals and prize values increased to keep players engaged. Those who preferred activities other than walking were provided with conversion charts to help calculate the equivalent number of steps for whatever form of exercise they completed.
Nearly 900 individuals participated in the Rock the Walk 2013 challenge. A total of 325,005,703 steps were taken over the course of the challenge and each participant took nearly 9,000 average daily steps.
Standard Process of Palmyra was the most active employer, whose participants took an average of 13,570 steps per day.
Tanya Geiger of Fort HealthCare, the grand prize winner, achieved each of the increased weekly step goals throughout the competition and won her choice of fitness bike or indoor training kit courtesy of 2 Rivers Bicycle and Outdoor. Geiger’s name was chosen from among 336 eligible players who met the minimum number of steps of 70,000 in the six-week challenge period.
“Rock the Walk 2013 was a great opportunity for local workers and residents to get in some physical activity while competing for prizes and bragging rights,” said Andrea Billinghurst, Fort HealthCare community programming coordinator. “We appreciate the generosity of our sponsors who supplied fun and motivating weekly prizes.”
Fort HealthCare, Nasco, Spacesaver, Ball Corporation, Standard Process and Jones Dairy Farm sponsored the Rock the Walk challenge.
Slimdown up next
The Fort HealthCare 2014 Slimdown Challenge, offered free of charge to all participants, begins on Feb. 10 and continues for twelve weeks until May 4.
Teams of four to six persons can join through a participating employer or through a community-based organization such as the Cambridge Activities Program (CAP), Fort Healthy (Fort Atkinson), JUMP (Jefferson), CHIC (Johnson Creek), Rock Lake Activity Center (Lake Mills) and Working for Whitewater’s Wellness (W3).
Confirmed sponsoring corporations to date are Fort HealthCare, Fort Atkinson School District, Fort Community Credit Union, McCain Foods, Nasco, Premier Bank and the Village of Palmyra Fire Department.
Persons not employed by sponsoring corporations are encouraged to weigh-in and weigh-out at one of the community-based organizations. In an effort to encourage physical fitness and reduce obesity in the community, Fort HealthCare is providing monetary incentives to the non-profit organizations based on the number of participants that weigh-in and complete in the 12-week challenge.
Persons interested in participating should visit www.FortHealthCare.com/Slimdown for more information and to register. Teams of four to six persons can join. On-site registrations and weigh-ins will begin at community and employer locations on Jan. 27.
Players can win prizes for team and individual weight loss accomplishments, and any person has multiple chances to win. The team with the highest weight loss percentage, calculated by averaging each team member’s weight loss percentage, based on official weigh-in and weigh-out will win one $250 Visa gift card per team member.
Every team that achieves a 10 percent weight loss, calculated by averaging each team member’s weight loss percentage, based on official weigh-in and weigh-out, will be entered into a drawing to win one $250 Visa gift card per team member. Four teams will be drawn as winners.
Each participant who achieves a 10 percent weight loss, based on official weigh-in and weigh-out, will be entered into a drawing to win a $100 Visa gift card. Ten individuals will be drawn as winners.
Lastly, every person who is actively participating in the competition each week, by recording a weight and completing a short quiz about various wellness topics, will be entered into a weekly drawing to win one of three $25 Visa gift cards.
Fort HealthCare’s Let’s Do This! wellness campaign is a literal call to action, intended to be positive, motivating and appealing to all audiences, from individuals, to employers to community coalitions. Accomplishing the campaign’s long-term goals will help Fort HealthCare achieve its wellness-oriented Mission: to improve the health and wellbeing of our community.
For more information visit FortHealthCare.com/LetsDoThis.
