Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department
Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department’s annual Walk to Health Team Challenge kicks off Monday, April 1st. This free walking program will last for 12 weeks and is open to residents of all ages in the SWNPHD nine-county service area.
“The Walk to Health program is a fun and easy way to increase your physical activity,” states Sarah Minnick, Program Manager at Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department (SWNPHD). “The team challenge encourages participants to walk with a friend or in a group, and research shows this helps with motivation and reaching step goals, so they are more likely to finish the challenge and get the health benefits of walking.”
Through a grant provided by Community Hospital of McCook’s Wellness for Life program, Walk to Health is partnering with MoveSpring - a fun and easy-to-use wellness platform. Participants can use the web or mobile app to create an account and connect a device for tracking, recognition, and encouragement.
“Everyone who participates in the 12-week challenge and fills out an evaluation of the program, will receive a free Walk to Health t-shirt,” explains Sarah Minnick. “Teams have fun competing against each other or going for the most steps. The top individual and top team receive a special prize.”
For those who already have a MoveSpring account, simply log in and click on Join a Challenge and select the Walk to Health Team Challenge 2024. This is also a good time to update your information in MoveSpring, especially your t-shirt size. Just follow three simple steps:
- In the MoveSpring app, click on the 3 lines in the top left-hand corner.
- Click on View Profile.
- Click on the gear icon in the top right - this will bring up your profile information and you can edit anything that has changed.
To register, go to http://app.movespring.com or download MoveSpring from the App Store or Google Play. Use organization code WALK2H to create an account and join the Walk to Health Team Challenge 2024. You can register as a team of 2 to 10 people, or as an individual. You will be able to connect your fitness device to track activity automatically, or you can manually enter your daily exercise. Instructions are available on the SWNPHD website: swhealth.ne.gov.
For those who do not want to use the MoveSpring app for the challenge, paper step trackers are available at SWNPHD at 404 West 10th Street (1 block north of Arby’s) in McCook or 418 N Spruce in Ogallala and online at swhealth.ne.gov. SWNPHD serves Chase, Dundy, Frontier, Furnas, Hayes, Hitchcock, Keith, Perkins, and Red Willow counties. You can also follow us on Facebook, You Tube, TikTok and Instagram or call 308-345-4223, one number three locations, McCook, Imperial, and Ogallala