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And… they’re off! #Steps2MentalHealth walking/wheeling challenge begins

August 11th, 2020

The Steps to Mental Health walking/wheeling challenge kicked off across Points West Living/ Connecting Care communities on Monday August 10 with a high level of participation. One day in, (as of 10am Tuesday August 11), 2.5-million steps had already been logged. It’s all to get people active and acknowledge the abundant life going on within our communities.

Lots of excitement

The first day of the challenge was a bit of a party atmosphere at Points West Living Stettler. Residents and employee care partners signed on to the HEKA Walk app, were fitted with HEKA-supplied step trackers, joined their virtual ‘team’, and began walking. Family members who were onsite for outdoor visits quickly signed up too.

“There was lots of excitement,” says General Manager Carol Dyck. “If people weren’t already on the app, our receptionist was adding them to the system. At end of day as people got off shift, we got lots of talk, people giving each other high fives.” At 10am Tuesday morning, PWL Stettler was in third place on the team leaderboard, behind PWL/ Connecting Care Home Office, and PWL Prince Albert.

A little bit of competition...

Of course, it’s not really ‘a competition’, but as Carol says, “Competition makes us more involved.” She’s handing out little prizes as daily incentives to employee care partners and residents. One resident who uses a walker to help with his steps had to move his tracker from his wrist to his ankle so his steps would register. A memory care resident who spends most of his days walking was happy to wear a tracker to add his steps to the PWL Stettler team tally. A manual step record is being kept for residents who don’t have trackers and will be added at the end of the challenge.

Walk - and talk - across Canada

The community has decided to map out its steps as a walk across Canada. The recreation team is incorporating Eden enrichment into the two-week challenge. On the first day, “we brought in popcorn to introduce towns where they came from,” says Recreation Therapist Lisa Smith. “There was lots of conversation and trivia about Canada.” 

The bustle of activity at PWL Stettler is being mirrored in other Points West Living communities, with residents, employee care partners, external health teams, family members, and friends all joining in for their teams.

Join us!

It’s not too late to join in on behalf of your PWL/CC community. Just download the HEKA Walk app, register, pair it with your fitness tracker, select the event #Steps2MentalHealth, and choose your location team.

The challenge runs from August 10th – 23rd.

Photo: (Clockwise from left) PWL Stettler resident Jack is kitted up with a tracker and ready to make steps; Recreation team members (from left) Lisa Smith and Diedre Northrop hold up map of Canada they’re using to track the community’s steps; (and lower right) Getting residents outside into the fresh air is one of the biggest mental health benefits of the challenge. PWL Stettler Employee care partner Isaac Nibourg stayed after his shift in the kitchen to walk with resident Lorraine Olson. “When they came back in, Lorraine had a big smile on her face,” says GM Carol Dyck

More photos at Flickr: And… they’re off! The #Steps2MentalHealth walking/wheeling challenge has begun