"He invited patients to go on a Saturday morning walk with him. Though patients seemed interested in the idea, he wasn't sure if that would translate into their showing up. Over 100 people arrived for the very first walk. He described his reaction as "pleasantly surprised, but not shocked." He quickly realized that just one isolated walk wasn't sufficient. "One walk doesn't build a community or establish a necessary habit," he maintained. "Weekly walking does.""
"The Saturday rituals grew, as did the attendance, with continued promotion. He talked to patients at their visits, started emails with an opt-in distribution list, and sent an admittedly "goofy" email reminder every Friday. The success of the idea reinforced his thinking. "I was concerned my obsessive belief in this concept would be incongruous with reality," Dr. Sabgir confessed. "Walk with a Doc" became a crucial addendum to the medical system that he envisioned, and developing the idea further was, in his words, "a no-brainer.""
Dr. David Sabgir, a cardiologist in Columbus, Ohio, identified that the medical system was failing to produce desired patient behavioral change. He began inviting patients to Saturday morning walks to create a different setting for conversations. Over 100 people attended the first walk, prompting weekly walks to build community and habit. Attendance grew through in-clinic invitations, an opt-in email list, and weekly reminders. The initiative expanded into a program called Walk with a Doc, which became a nonprofit in 2009 and now includes roughly 500 chapters worldwide, some offering optional blood pressure checks.
Read at Psychology Today
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