Doctor walk promotes health
a slight spit of rain in Gage Park as Dr. Haider Saeed waits for a group of avid walkers to assemble. They are keen to investigate a new program called Walk with a Doc.
“You know just a 12-minute walk can improve your mood,” Saeed says as he starts a stroll around the park.
Walk with a Doc is new in Hamilton. Word is slowly spreading about the program that unites health professionals with the public in the great outdoors. Away from the clinic, office or hospital, the congenial setting breaks down barriers.
“I tell my patients about the benefits of walking, now I’m walking the talk,” says Saeed, a family doctor at Crown Point Family Health Centre.
The 10 people along for this walk-chat with Saeed learned how walking helps with insomnia, depression and sharpens the memory.
Though, judging by the group, they already know the benefits of walking.
“Even on the days when I don’t want to, I just make myself go for a walk and I feel so much better after,” Diane Summers, a daily walker says.
Walk with a Doc has chapters worldwide.
Here, the program is under the umbrella of an organization called Just Walk (justwalk-hb.weebly.com), a multi-partner group that includes McMaster University, Hamilton Burlington Trails Council and Adventure Attic, among others.
Walks are planned once a month in places where the terrain is easy. This isn’t about competition; if anything, it’s about sociability and sharing.
As the Walk with a Doc group circumnavigates Gage Park, they run smack into the Bones Group. These women, all diagnosed with osteoporosis, are breezing through the park with Nordic walking poles.
The two groups exchange cards and discuss favourite walking places, which include the Royal Botanical Gardens, vari There’s ous cemeteries and the Waterfront Trail. The casual face-time with Dr. Saeed also allows them to ask about recent medical news on the use of vitamin D.
The give and take must be exactly what creators of Walk with a Doc had in mind.
On the next walk, on Nov. 17 at the Cherokee Radial Trail, Dr. David Robinson will chat about arthritis and walking. The onehour walk leaves from the Chedoke Civic Golf Club parking lot at 9 a.m.
The monthly walks will continue through the winter in places where the footing isn’t treacherous.
So park your bad mood and meet some new people. It’s a walk in the park.