The parade on Oct. 30 will be a declaration for students, faculty, staff and friends of their commitment to a healthy lifestyle change. Participants can sign up online to march in the parade with the “Make 1 Change for Good Health” float and receive a free t-shirt after they pledge to make a change to their behavior.
Dean Bernadette Melnyk of the College of Nursing and Health Innovation launched the Make Just 1 Healthy Lifestyle Change initiative with the aspiration of registering 1,000 people to walk, bike or skate in the parade and has registered 600 people so far. Melnyk’s aim for the initiative is to change unhealthy behaviors that are the number one killer of people in Arizona and the U.S. and are responsible for 75 percent of premature deaths, she said in an e-mail.
Healthy Arizona Now’s goal is to improve physical and mental health across Arizona for those at any stage in life, not only with health care itself but also with health promotion.
The health promotion aspect of the initiative includes providing a list to participants to change their health for the better. The list contains tips such as taking deep breaths to lower stress as well as practicing healthy behaviors with children to help them to be healthy too.
Project director Margaret Whittaker helped start the kickoff of Healthy Arizona Now on campus when she was assigned to work with Melnyk as part of her job with the U.S. Public Health Service and the Food and Drug Administration.
“Make Just 1 is the campus initiative to get the message out to the student population,” Whittaker said. “The message outreach is to what affects the student body firsthand.”
Whittaker said the initiative shows that ASU is committed to a cause, making it seem like less of a campaign and more of a community activity.
“I think the biggest misconception out there is that it has to be all or nothing,” she said. “Either being totally fit or not at all. But we’re trying to show students to make one change that’s something they can continue, or whatever they can do to be sustainable.”
Anna Hernandez walked with a support group called Mujeres en Accion run through the College of Nursing and Health Innovation. The group is designed for older Hispanic women seeking to increase their physical activity in order to avoid obesity. Hernandez said she was motivated to join because of an increase in her cholesterol, and she said that she knew she had to start being active again if she wanted to stay healthy.
“It has come in a later time in life for me, but it’s better late than never,” she said.
Hernandez and her fellow group members struggle to maintain their diets, which she said puts them in the “danger zone” since they cook with lard and butter. A simple change such as using vegetable oil will make a difference in their health. Revitalizing their daily routine around exercise will help too, she said.
“We already exercise, but we don’t call it exercise, we call it work,” she said. “We have to turn it around and enjoy instead of working, and then we can benefit out of it even more than before.”
Hernandez also said she believes women can involve their families in their activities, which makes the activities easier and less of a chore.
“So many kids are stuck in front of the television and video games, becoming overweight and obese and not caring about their health,” Hernandez said.
Nearly 26 percent of Maricopa county is obese, according to the latest 2007 figure from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings.
Marketing director Terry Olbrysh of the College of Nursing and Health Innovation said an additional concern from obesity is that it can lead to other diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and clinical depression. He said it is important for the school to get involved to serve a preventative purpose.
“A lot of people think of us as just nursing,” Olbrysh said. “We’ve added five new disciplines on the preventative side, and the initiative is a perfect match for us now.”
Olbrysh said nurses need to take responsibility for their patients to keep them out of medical offices, and the initiative reinforces that idea.
“Part of the pledge a nurse takes is that he or she will be an advocate for patients,” he said.
While homecoming is a different environment for the message to get out to students, Olbrysh said it is a big message at a place you don’t expect to find it.
“I hope people take it to heart as a contribution to the people of Arizona,” he said.
Contact the reporter at ssteffan@asu.edu
