Murdoch walking for wellbeing

Monday 30 May 2011

Walking, running, cycling or swimming will become a daily routine for 133 St John of God Hospital Murdoch caregivers for the next 16 weeks as they participate in the Global Corporate Challenge (GCC).

Murdoch caregivers have an enviable record in the event, with a team from the hospital coming 19th out of 6,400 teams Australia-wide last year’s GCC.

St John of God Hospital Murdoch Chief Executive Officer Peter Mott said he fully expected Murdoch teams to again shine.

“We fully support our caregivers to join a team for the GCC. We have a role to play in our community to promote a healthy lifestyle, and that includes our own caregivers,” Mr Mott said.

Last year more than 150,000 participants from 75 countries and over 1,200 organisations participated in the Global Corporate Challenge.

For the period of the competition, each participant wears a pedometer and records their daily step count (plus any bicycle and swimming distances) on the GCC website. The site adds individual step counts to their team total then converts this to a kilometre/mile distance, plotting the team’s progression along a virtual tour of the world.

Teams come up with inventive tactics to increase their daily step counts ranging from extremely dedicated steppers who hire exercise machines, to others who take part in charity fun runs, or those who take the stairs instead of taking the lift.

An added benefit is that for every one of St John of God Health Care’s 350 participants around Australia, an equivalent number of children in the community can be enrolled in the Global Children's Challenge at no cost. This is to encourage healthy active habits in children, and present exercise as fun, stimulating and worthwhile.