Baptist Health Madisonville places ninth in Medical Fitness Week national competition

Baptist Health Madisonville places ninth in Medical Fitness Week national competition

Baptist Health Madisonville places ninth in Medical Fitness Week national competition

 

Madisonville, KY. (June 12, 2018): Baptist Health Madisonville was named the ninth place finisher in the national Medical Fitness Week 10K Walk Challenge: 70,000 Steps in 7 Days competition. 

 

“For us to consistently place in the top ten in a national competition against much larger healthcare systems shows that our employees and community support the idea of healthy lifestyle activities,” said Robert Ramey, president of Baptist Health Madisonville.  “While we all enjoy the spirit of competition, our main goal is that the program will encourage healthier habits by giving people a common goal and a team to support them as they begin their own journey toward a more active lifestyle.”

 

Medical Fitness Week was recognized May 7-13, 2018 and was proclaimed locally by Mayor David Jackson.  Baptist Health Madisonville asked participants to track their steps every day with a goal of achieving 10,000 steps or more each of the seven days. 

 

For 2018, Baptist Health Madisonville submitted 5,806,657 steps with 77 participants to earn ninth place nationally.  Baptist Health Madisonville placed sixth in the competition in 2017.

 

It takes just a little more than 2,000 steps to achieve one mile and typically the average American walks between 2-3,000 steps each day.  According to the Surgeon General,  the benefits of walking are having more energy, reducing stress, better weight management, decreased risk of  heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, colon and breast cancer and osteoporosis.  Walking 10,000 steps per day will burn an additional 2,000-3,500 extra calories per week.