My Walk Across Texas Journey
By Wesley Nurse, Lindsey Floyd, RN
As a Methodist Healthcare Ministries Wesley Nurse in Edna, TX, I encourage good nutrition and exercise. My role involves being committed to helping the least served in our community through education, health promotion, and collaboration to achieve improved wellness through self-empowerment. Walking, in particular, is a great form of exercise since it is inexpensive and is an easy way to get fit.
This year, I, along with Jackson County Hospital District, recruited people in Jackson County to participate in Walk Across Texas – a free 8-week statewide program designed by Texas A&M Agrilife Extension to help Texans establish the habit of regular physical activity. The goal is to "walk across the state of Texas" in eight weeks – 830 miles. In order to stay on track, everyone on a team (up to eight people) must walk nearly 13 miles each week.
Our initial goal was to form 10 teams. We are proud to say that we now have 30! We started our challenge on February 16.
The aim is to be the first team to reach 830 miles or walk the most miles. We hope to walk 850 miles. While there is no monetary compensation, the much greater benefit includes reducing your risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. This challenge helps people start moving more to establish physical activity as a lifetime habit. What's also great is since you're working in a team, you have a support system to help you keep going. In fact, you don't even have to walk to participate; you can convert your exercise into mileage, which allows participants to do any type of physical activity that fits their lifestyle. Some of our team members are walking on their own, while others walk together on tracks and city parks.
With just a few weeks to go, all our teams are happy to join thousands of fellow Texans on a daily walk to a better life. We will have an awards night to celebrate our accomplishments on April 12.
If you're interested in participating (anyone can join, even individually), check out the Walk Across Texas website at http://walkacrosstexas.tamu.edu/. To learn more about Methodist Healthcare Ministries' Wesley Nurse program – a faith-based, holistic health and wellness program – visit http://www.mhm.org/programs/community-outreach.