Just Walk
Walk with a Doc Newsletter 
There's only one original
July 1st, 2011
In This Issue
SWNU
Power of Text
Ohioans
Thank you
Whitewater
Thank you. Thank you for putting up with our absurdity. Thank you for believing in and promoting our goal of making WWAD available to all physicians and community members.
Thank you for sharing that walking (or any exercise) is doable, fun, and easy. It saves quantities and qualities of lives.
Thank you for realizing that we are learning together and accomplishing this together.

 
 **Note from Editor, if you are easily offended please skip this introduction block and resume with The Power of Text. This is worse than most of his stuff. Trust us.

Good morning!

How are you today? It's Friday! Long 3 day weekend coming up so fast you can taste it. Happy Fourth to you.

Did you learn anything new this week? I bet you learned a ton of stuff.  

At WWAD, we aim to promote a healthy environment of learning at our World HQ. We are constantly having seminars, webinars, fly-ins, fly-bys, and Sponge Bob Square Pants Marathons (once my staff explains the clever subtext of what is actually transpiring on screen? It's mind blowing!).  

This week we have focused on Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery. Unfortunately, there is a reason for that.

 

Debuting on March 26, 2011 was Just Pee, A Pee With a Doc Program. This is the 'brainchild' of a nine (9) person urology group in SW Nebraska (SWNU).  

I know what you're thinking, this is another one of David's "jokes". Another opportunity for him to giggle and snort. Wouldn't it be nice if that were the case.  

At first we thought SWNU was just having fun with us. You know, poke the cardiologist. Then, all the signals were pointing to this being very real; they were here to stay. Still, I'd laugh it off, "They can't keep this up", I said. Wrong again.

Over 3 months into it, Kathryn is still getting calls regarding where they meet, can guests bring their dog, can't find it on the website, etc.

   

Simply put, the confusion between the two programs has become an issue.  

While we are indeed "flattered", unfortunately, we have to discuss this, in the largest public forum we have access to.

While there are similarities between WWAD & PWAD, there are many differences.

First, and the one that really gets under my skin. All of their marketing materials read,

Just Pee, A Pee with a Doc Program, We're # 1. This is, without a doubt, confusing. To me it connotes that they are the #1, or best program. When all they truly have done is found a loophole.  

They mean "We're #1" as in (pee = #1 and the other stuff = #2). Albeit creative, they are merely taking advantage of what they focus on. I'm sorry, but after we have spent six and half years delicately crafting the infrastructure of WWAD, we cannot help but take offense to this upstart's false claim. We think we are #1 (we certainly don't want to be #2...if you know what I mean - heeheehee). 

("Wow Nancy. You can tell David went 3 whole weeks without talking about the dirty stuff, because he's letting it fly this morning!")

As I mentioned, there are many similarities, and there are many differences.

Most of our chapters meet on Saturday mornings, they do the same.

 

While we encourage # of steps taken and often tally them; they encourage # of liters purged (e.g. Highbanks took 245,000 steps Saturday; SW Nebraska released 57.4 liters).  

Our WWAD Reconnaissance Squadron (WWADRS) has revealed this to be nothing more than a marketing ploy. SWNU wants to say, "Hey come see OUR docs. They're special because their patients do #1 tthhhhis much (spread arms wide)!!"

Give me a break. 

   

They have a urologist speak on the latest urology trials; we aim to be more broad ranged and will address the important news from any specialty, including urology.

 

We hand out free pedometers that allow us to stay honest, shooting for 10,000 steps or more a day; they hand out urinals with places for check-marks to tally number of uses. That's gross. 

 

We have our medical students, RNs, and doctors check blood pressures; they do private bladder scans to test the degree of urinary retention. This is quite honestly inappropriate for the park setting ("and newsletters for that matter, David").

 

Our shirts have been red, white, blue (USA!), pink, and tan; theirs are, well you can guess what color theirs are.

 

While we encourage our team to get a decent night's rest (at least 7 hours); they encourage significant Friday evening water consumption and quietly advocate avoidance of the "facilities" until arrival in the park, when it's "official". They are obviously doing this to pad their numbers, and you know what, it's not healthy.  

 

Our bylaws do not mandate any specifics to meeting locales; they must have an audible source of water and multiple private restrooms adjacent to their gathering place.

 

While we welcome and celebrate all holidays; they choose only one.  

St. Patrick's Day (you may want to cover your ears, this is where it is hard to listen to). This is what they do instead of green beer. 

On March 16th, they have a special late night gathering (dubbed Midnight Blues) where they hand out blue Popsicles. This way, when their participants come to the park in the a.m. they all dance around and pee gr...well, you get it. Is that not horrible? Can you now see why they've forced our hand?

 

To our skeptics, yes there is plenty of room in the sandbox ("you mean litterbox?"). While commonplace among urologists, we do not condone this excessive discussion surrounding urination. But most importantly, at the end of the day, it's not healthy. It's stupid and it's pointless ("like the start of this newsletter Dr. Dave?")  

Cell Phone 

The Power of Text

This article was pulled from the wire.

 

There are couple things I would take from this valuable study that follows this intro.

a) We want you texting your friends and asking if they are going for a walk today or better yet, inviting them to go for a walk with you (maybe even at WWAD?!). That little bit of time investment will positively alter their life, seriously.They are your friend, text away. No downside to you, it's all up.

 

b) If you know someone still smoking, please text them...(see below) 

 

(AFP) People trying to quit smoking are twice as likely to succeed when they get mobile-phone text messages to encourage them, according to a study reported on Thursday by The Lancet medical journal.

British doctors recruited 5,800 smokers and randomly assigned them either to a group that received specially-tailored SMSes or to a control group.

The first group received five messages a day for the first five weeks and then three per week for the next six months.

The messages -- developed with the help of smokers themselves -- gave advice for keeping weight off while quitting and encouraged participants to persevere.

"This is it! - QUIT DAY, throw away all your f--s [cigarettes]," was an example of what they received on the day they started cessation. "TODAY is the start of being QUIT forever, you can do it!"

Volunteers in this group also had a personalised system in which, at times of need, they got help by texting the word "crave" or "lapse".

They would receive this kind of reply: "Cravings last less than 5 minutes on average. To help distract yourself, try sipping a drink slowly until the craving is over."

In response to the "lapse" text, they would get this response: "Don't feel bad or guilty if you've slipped. You've achieved a lot by stopping for a while. Slip-ups can be a normal part of the quitting process. Keep going, you can do it!"

In contrast, smokers in the control group received bland SMSes every fortnight thanking them for taking part or requesting confirmation of contact details or other messages that were unrelated to smoking.

Throughout the trial, volunteers in both groups sent off samples of their saliva by post.

These were tested for cotinine, a chemical found in tobacco, to see if they were still smoking or had given up.

After six months, 10.7 percent in the SMS support group had been continuously abstinent, but this was only 4.9 percent in the control group. Success was similar across all ages and social groups.

The researchers say the "txt2stop" trial demonstrated a powerful, low-cost tool for combatting smoking addiction -- and one that could be adapted around the world.

In 2009, more than two-thirds of the world?s population owned a mobile phone and 4.2 trillion text messages were sent.

"Text messages are a very convenient way for smokers to receive support to quit," said Caroline Free of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who led the experiment.

"People described txt2stop as like having a 'friend' encouraging them or an 'angel on their shoulder'. It helped people resist the temptation to smoke."

Txt2stop is the latest investigation of mobile-phone messages as medical tools.

In a study published last November, HIV-infected patients in Kenya who received text reminders about taking daily AIDS drugs were 12 percent likelier to achieve full adherence to their drug regimen than counterparts in the non-text group.

Smoking kills more than five million people each year, and two out of three British smokers have said at some point they would like to quit, according to figures quoted in the study.

Previous research has found that SMSes encourage smoking abstinence, but these experiments only lasted six weeks, as opposed to six months, and the results were self-reported by the volunteers, rather than checked in lab tests.

 

NAWC11 If you live in Ohio...

WWAD wants you to join us. We believe all of our participants can complete this beautiful event (www.newalbanywalking classic.com).

This September 11th, we will at the New Albany Walking Classic, voted #1 (no cracks, wiseguy) Walking Event in America. It is always a great morning. There's ridiculous swag, it is a very empowering, and we want 100 people signed up for Team Walk with a Doc. For the newsletter readers we get an additional discount. When you register, put WWAD as the code. And please sign in on Team Walk with a Doc. The website has a great 10K training plan as well. Please join us!

 
To see this weekend's WWAD's please go to  www.walkwithadoc.org and click on the black shoes!...no 'official' Highbank's walk this weekend.

Have a great (long) weekend!

David  

 

Contact Info
Executive Director
Kathryn Stephens
614-714-0407

 
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