Consortium hosts 'Just Move It' activities Oct. 10

SITKA - The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium Health Promotion, Diabetes and Lifestyle Balance programs will host the second annual "Just Move It" day of activities on Saturday, Oct. 10, in five communities throughout the region.

A variety of free community walking events will take place in Haines, Juneau, Angoon, Kake and Klawock (Sitka plans to host a Just Move It event in the spring). The events are part of the national Just Move It campaign to promote healthy physical activity for American Indians and Alaska Natives, but they are open to all members of the community. By hosting the events on Oct. 10, the activities will tie in with the Alaska Native Brotherhood/Alaska Native Sisterhood Grand Camp meetings taking place that week in Juneau. Transportation will be available to take people from Grand Camp to the Juneau Just Move It event.

The Just Move It events also serve as an early preview of American Diabetes Month in November, which brings awareness to a disease having a growing impact on Alaska Natives and American Indians. Alaska Natives and American Indians have some of the highest rates of diabetes for any ethnic group in the United States, and recent research has shown that more than half of the cases of Type 2 diabetes can be prevented through increased physical activity and healthy eating habits.

"Type 2 diabetes is a growing problem for all people in the United States, but data shows Alaska Natives and American Indians have a higher rate of developing Type 2 diabetes, which is preventable," said Renae Mathson, a Diabetes Health Educator II for SEARHC. "As crazy as it sounds, we would be healthier and live longer if we chose to return to the healthier lifestyles of our ancestors - eating more fish, vegetables and fruits from the land and sea, and getting daily physical activity. The national Just Move It campaign is meant to help Alaska Natives and American Indians get moving again, and the health promotion team at SEARHC decided to join the cause to get one million First Nations people active again."

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last year released its first set of physical activity guidelines for Americans, http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/. The report said the physical activity can come from a variety of activity types and people don't have to feel tied to a gym, so long as they walk, bike, swim, garden, dance, play with the dog or find other ways to be active. According to the guidelines, adults should try to get 30 minutes of physical activity a day at least five days a week, and children ages 6-18 should try to get an hour of physical activity a day. Activity can take place in blocks lasting at least 10 minutes, so people don't need to feel they have to go for a 30-minute run if they only have 15 minutes available in the morning and 15 minutes at night for physical activity.

"More matters," the physical activity guidelines report said. "Even low amounts of physical activity can have some health benefits. How hard someone works out, how long someone trains and how many days a week they put into their chosen activity will give greater health benefits in the long run." The report also said "some physical activity is better than none," and people can gain at least some health benefits from even small amounts of physical activity.

Brief descriptions and contact information for the Oct. 10 events follow, and all events are open to the general public.

Angoon - Angoon Walking For Diabetes, meet at 1 p.m. at the Angoon City Shop, contact Doreen McCluskey at 788-4637 or doreen.mccluskey@searhc.org, or contact Lenora Walker at 788-4632 or lenora.walker@searhc.org.

Haines - Totem to Totem Walk, meet at 10 a.m. at Haines Borough School Friendship Pole for a walking loop around town that will end back at the school, contact Mandy Ramsey at 766-6317 or mandy.ramsey@searhc.org.

Juneau - Dimond Park Walk, meet from 1-5 p.m. at the Dimond Park Field House to walk or run around the indoor track, participants record laps and each lap earns a ticket for prize drawings, transportation will be available to take people from ANB/ANS Grand Camp to this event, contact Rocky Plotnick at 364-4452 or rocky.plotnick@searhc.org.

Kake - Totem to Totem Walk, meet at 1 p.m. at the world's tallest totem on the hill (next to the SEARHC Kake Health Center) and walk down the hill to the Kake Tribal Totem Pole, refreshments after the event, contact Georgie Davis-Gastelum at 785-6516 or georgie.reese@searhc.org.

Klawock - Community Walk from Klawock School to Veteran's Memorial Ballpark and back, meet at 1 p.m. at the Klawock School gym, refreshments, door prizes, free reflectors and registration for a 10,000-step program after the event, contact June May at 755-4959 or june.may@searhc.org.

Sitka - Just Move It event type, location and time TBA this spring, contact Renae Mathson at 966-8797 or renae.mathson@searhc.org, or contact Erin Rofkar at 966-8799 or erin.rofkar@searhc.org.