The May Move It! community exercise challenge was a great success. Cook County made it to its figurative goal of reaching New Orleans almost seven times over.
The distance from Grand Marais to New Orleans is 1,465 miles, but the total distance covered by participants was over 10,000 miles. One hundred nine individuals and 19 teams tracked their exercise on the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic Move It! webpage (www.sawtoothmountainclinic.org/events/). The community recorded 2,387 hours of exercise in the month of May.
Last year the challenge took community members on a figurative 1,300-mile trip (by highway) around Lake Superior.
At the May 23, 2013 North Shore Hospital board meeting, Clinic Director Rita Plourde said that next year they’ll need to set a much bigger goal, such as making it to the North Pole. That would only be about 2,918 miles, however. In fact, the community could have made it to the South Pole this year, which is about 9,128 miles from Grand Marais.
Minnesota ranks high in health
The United Health Foundation listed Minnesota as the fifth healthiest state overall in 2012 and has listed it as the healthiest for older adults in 2013.
Regarding the health of older adults, the United Health Foundation’s website says, “Minnesota’s strengths include ranking first for all health determinants combined, which includes ranking in the top 5 states for a high rate of annual dental visits, a high percentage of volunteerism, a low percentage of marginal food insecurity, a high percentage of creditable drug coverage, and ready availability of home health care workers.
“Minnesota also ranks first for all health outcomes combined, including ranking in the top 5 states for a low rate of hospitalization for hip fractures, a high percentage of seniors who report very good or excellent health, a high prevalence of able-bodied seniors, a low premature death rate, a low prevalence of full-mouth tooth extractions, and few poor mental health days per month.”
Challenges for older adults are listed as low community support expenditures, low prevalence of seniors with a dedicated health care provider, and high prevalence of chronic drinking.
“Minnesota has the second highest volunteer rate among seniors in the U.S. at 38.9 percent of adults aged 65 and older,” the website states.
The website goes on to say, “In Minnesota, seniors with a college degree report lower prevalence of obesity and physical inactivity, higher prevalence of social support, and better health status compared to seniors with less than a high school degree.”
The strengths of Minnesota’s overall population were a high rate of high school graduation, low prevalence of sedentary lifestyle and diabetes, and low rate of premature death and deaths from cardiovascular disease.
Minnesota’s challenges were high incidence of infectious disease, high prevalence of binge drinking, and low per capita public health funding.
The website stated in 2012, “Minnesota’s sedentary lifestyle and diabetes rates are among the lowest in the U.S. However, 891,000 adults live a sedentary lifestyle and almost 300,000 adults have diabetes in the state.
“…In the past ten years, the rate of cardiovascular deaths decreased from 270.4 to 195.9 deaths per 100,000 population.
“…In the past five years, the amount of public health funding decreased from $62 to $43 per person.
“…In the past ten years, the percentage of children in poverty has increased from 8.1 percent to 13.3 percent of persons under age 18.
“…In the past year, the immunization coverage increased from 90.9 percent to 93.2 percent of children ages 19 to 35 months.”
Minneapolis ranks well in fitness
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has ranked the Twin Cities as the metropolitan area with the highest health and fitness level in the country.
Evaluated were factors such as amount of physical activity, rates of heart disease and diabetes, use of public transportation, bicycles or walking to get to work, state requirements for physical education classes, parkland and park-related expenditures, farmers’ markets, playgrounds, ball diamonds, dog parks, golf courses, tennis courts, and recreation centers. Many of these things have recently been promoted through various initiatives in Cook County.
The ACSM recommended a decrease in smoking and an increase in the number of swimming pools, the acres of parkland, and the amount of fruits and vegetables eaten each day.
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