Remember ME - You Me and Dementia

January 28, 2012

USA: Walking clubs a chance to exercise

WILLOUGHBY, Ohio / The News-Herald /  Life / January 28, 2012


By Kaylee Remington, Journal Register News Service

Walking clubs have become a great physical activity especially for senior citizens. Nancy Allison, mall service associate at Midway Mall in Elyria, said most malls have walking clubs before or after the mall closes.

At Midway Mall, EMH Regional Healthcare sponsors a walkers meeting every third Tuesday of each month.


Sue Keller, EMH nurse and manager of the Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation department, takes the blood pressure of one of the Mall Walkers in Elyria. Special to Journal Register Company

Allison said the meetings provide advice on healthy lifestyles as well as talks on exercise. She said topics before have included raising your heart rate when working out and how to stretch before a workout.

Walkers take a lap around the mall every day about 8 a.m. before the mall opens. The length of the walk is 1.3 miles. "It's opened basically at that time for the walkers," Allison said. Walking clubs, Allison said, appeal more to senior citizens because of losing loved ones or living far away from family. "Many times they will feel isolated and it gets them out of the house," she said.
"They walk for their health and their mental well-being."

Fairview Hospital, 18101 Lorain Ave., Cleveland, has a Mall Walkers club in which individuals wishing to walk for exercise can do so at Great Northern Mall. Mall walkers can come to the mall at 8 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays and at 10 a.m. Sundays to start their exercise.
Those who participate in Mall Walkers at Great Northern receive gift rewards for achieving a certain amount of miles: 250 miles, a water bottle; 500 miles, a fanny pack; 1,000 miles, a T-shirt; 2,500 miles a $50 gift card to Westfield Great Northern; 5,000 miles, a $100 gift card to Westfield Great Northern. Ohio has a number of walking clubs, which can be researched at ava.org/avaclub/avaclub.htm and clicking on the Ohio tab.
© Copyright 2012 The News-Herald
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