Health series tries to reach those often left out
Filed under: Health journalism, Hot Health Headline
Kate Dailey of Newsweek has teamed up with Public Radio International for a 10-part series, “DIY Checkup: Taking Control of Our Health.” The project looks at “what people can do to live better, no matter their genetics, history, or economic status.”
Dailey, in a blog post about the series, recognizes that some of the standard pieces of advice, such as going to the gym for exercise or eating fresh fruits and vegetables, are not relevant for significant parts of the population. People who work on their feet all day and people who live in food deserts are not getting the messages in a way that make them relevant to their lives.
As Dailey says, “the language that doctors and journalists often use to talk about personal health often leaves many people out.”
Part one of the series lists things people can do to significantly improve their health. Listen to part one:
The latest trend in medicine? Outdoor exercise
Writing for The Washington Post, physician and University of California, San Francisco, medical professor Daphne Miller makes a strong case for what she calls a growing trend: Doctors prescribing outdoor exercise for their patients. After seeing how the lure of the outdoors can motivate those who can’t stand the sight of another treadmill or stationary trainer, Miller has started handing out detailed “park prescriptions” that direct her patients to specific parks and trails. It’s a practice she says colleagues across the country are adopting.
Eleanor Kennedy, a cardiologist in Little Rock, helped create a downtown “Medical Mile” with the support of local funders and the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program. “If my patients feel that they can get outdoors, they are more likely to be consistent about exercise,” she told me. “Whether you are waddling, walking or running, going out and exercising will help build your confidence, flexibility and adaptability.” And it will also be good for your heart — a particular benefit in Arkansas, where rates of heart disease and stroke, as well as obesity and diabetes, are among the highest in the country.
Folks on the park side of the equation are no less thrilled about the rediscovered mental and physical health benefits of the outdoors; National Park Service officials are hoping to prepare a “park prescription” tool kit for doctors and local parks and health organizations are starting to cooperate across the country.
The NPS’s Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program has projects in nearly every state and provides a state-by-state breakdown of the projects that might help reporters localize this story.
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