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Faculty And Staff 'Get Moving' To 608 Million Steps

About 2,800 employees participated in Duke's team-based health contest

LIVE FOR LIFE offers lots of free programming for Duke faculty and staff, including fitness consultations. The fitness consults cover a variety of topics, like how to properly climb stairs. Photo by Marsha A. Green.
LIVE FOR LIFE offers lots of free programming for Duke faculty and staff, including fitness consultations. The fitness consults cover a variety of topics, like how to properly climb stairs. Photo by Marsha A. Green.
By Bryan Roth

After 10 weeks, 2,800 Duke faculty and staff have done quite a number on their health and wellness goals.

With the April 1 close of Duke's "Get Moving Challenge," employees combined to walk nearly 608 million steps - the same as running about 10,000 marathons - and log 2.8 million minutes of exercise. In addition, Get Moving participants lost a combined 3,879 pounds - nearly two tons.

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"Seeing this kind of success is a testament to the commitment Duke employees have to achieve better health and wellness," said Julie Joyner, manager for LIVE FOR LIFE, Duke's employee wellness program and sponsor of the  Get Moving Challenge. "It's been really exciting to hear from faculty and staff who've written us to share their fitness transformations because of the Get Moving competition."

Out of 283 participating teams, a different group won each of the three competing categories (see sidebar for top-three finishers):

  • Steps - "Fit Happens"
  • Exercise minutes - "Crazy Ladies" 
  • Weight loss - "serviceup/weightdown"

Barbara DeLarco, finance director at Duke's Brain Tumor Center, said that participating in Get Moving offered motivation to start going to the gym more. Between Jan. 23 and April 1, DeLarco said she lost 13 pounds by going to Duke's Center for Living gym five or more times a week. Prior to the Get Moving Challenge, she went once or twice a week.

"Before Get Moving, I would stay in a spin class for its whole 45 minutes, but I had to decrease the bike's wheel tension to keep going," DeLarco said. "Now I can move it up."

Andrea Lanahan also saw improvements in her own health and wellness, along with her teammates in the competition. Before Get Moving, she never used LIVE FOR LIFE programming. After learning about free nutrition and fitness consultations offered to Duke faculty and staff through LIVE FOR LIFE, she started utilizing the employee wellness program to find ideas on how to succeed in the Get Moving Challenge.

As team leader for the "Seeley Strutters," Lanahan sent out emails to motivate her coworkers and helped organize weekly healthy lunches and Zumba dance sessions. She and others on the team also made changes like talking longer walks to their office mailboxes to increase their steps taken or taking walks during lunches.

"Everyone on the floor would even use the stairs to walk three floors up to use the bathroom," said Lanahan, administrative manager with the Medical Scientist Training Program. "I'm definitely more conscientious about sitting at my desk all day. Now I make an effort to get up and move around every half hour or so, and every morning at 5:30 I get up to work out. My goal and the team's goal is to try to get at least 10,000 steps a day."