His optimism is grounded in firm evidence that Americans are getting back on their feet. “You are a movement that can ensure this country achieves its great dreams.” “You have no idea how powerful you are,” he said to the hundreds of walking activists in the room. Sims drew on his experience as an activist in African-American neighborhoods of Seattle, as well as a former Deputy US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, to map out the starting point for reaching healthy communities: new or improved sidewalks, better lighting, access to water and greenspace. “If you have walkable communities kids will do better in school…seniors will be healthier.” “If you have parks, playgrounds, community gardens, and wide sidewalks, you have good health outcomes,” he offered.
#CHANDIGARH UNWALKABLE ZIP#
Ron Sims, who sponsored some of the first research identifying zip codes as an ironclad determinant of health, closed the three-day event on an equally powerful note. They are symptoms of the ongoing legacy of racism and unequal economic opportunity in this country. “Health disparities don’t just happen by accident,” he explained. Bullard, founder of the Environmental Justice movement and Dean of the School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University.Īs Bullard showed a succession of US maps illustrating how historic segregation and current poverty strongly correlate with low levels of walking and childhood opportunity as well as high levels of obesity and chronic disease, a shocked silence fell over the room. “The health benefits of walking are so overwhelming that to deny access to that is a violation of fundamental human rights,” noted opening keynote speaker Dr. The goal of equal access to good health resounded throughout the Walking Summit, which was held in Washington, D.C., organized by America Walks, and presented by Kaiser Permanente, along with two dozen co-sponsors spanning the healthcare, philanthropy, business, non-profit and transportation fields. It’s about making sure “everyone in America has a good shot at being healthy.” Murthy told an overflowing crowd of 500 people from 44 states that, “we need to improve infrastructure in communities to make walking easier.” It’s about justice, he emphasized. That’s the message of his recent Call to Action on Walking and Walkable Communities, which highlighted the powerful fact that, “an average of 22 minutes a day of physical activity – such as brisk walking – can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes” as well as other debilitating chronic diseases. “Walking is a simple thing we can do” to make America more healthy.
“ We are a nation of walkers,” declared US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy at the 2nd National Walking Summit on October 29. Photo by woodleywonderworks, Flickr Creative Commons
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