Employees ‘Get Moving,’ Lose 2,755 Pounds

Staff members in Duke's Human Resources Information Center (HRIC) don't kid around, especially when they put their mind to something important like health.

Along with about 2,400 other faculty and staff from across Duke, their team of 11 recently completed the Get Moving Challenge, Duke’s team-based health competition. While HRIC didn’t finish at the top, members did begin making important changes to their health and wellness through support of each other.

Led by captain Jeanna Drake, "705 Broad St Broads and Brawn" held weekly workout sessions, scheduled workday breaks to take walks together and organized "Fresh Friday" potluck events where employees would bring in healthy snack food to share. Staff also created a bulletin board full of health-related tips and tricks and recipes.

On April 13, members of 705 Broad St Broads and Brawn will even run the Blue Devil Dash 5K together.

Drake said that creating group activities during the Get Moving Challenge provided a change of pace to normal day-to-day events for her group, which include answering calls from employees about a variety of topics related to benefits and working at Duke.

"Because we're on the phone so much, we find it's hard to find time for teamwork activities," said Drake, project specialist with HRIC. "It was fun to build a team mentality around our daily challenges, get everybody involved and excited."

Overall, "705 Broad St Broads and Brawn" finished 36th in average steps taken with 550,196 per team member over the 10-week competition and 52nd in exercise minutes at 1,830. Looney Tunes, a top placing team comprised of employees from the Employee Occupational Health and Wellness office, led all teams with per person averages of 1.2 million steps and 7,173 exercise minutes.

During Get Moving Duke employees compiled 600 million steps, the equivalent of running 11,450 marathons. Competitors also exercised for almost 37,000 hours and lost a combined total of 2,755 pounds. Of Duke employees tracking their weight during Get Moving, 84 percent maintained or lost weight during the program.

In all, 189 teams were formed featuring employees from offices and departments throughout campus.

One of the biggest successes from the HRIC team came from Quadiriah McCullough, a specialist in the Human Resource Information Center. She set a goal to take at least 10,000 steps a day during Get Moving, which she accomplished.

"In the winter, I normally don't do any exercise because it's cold, but we motivated each other to stay active even when we didn't want to," she said. "It was motivation to eat healthier and keep walking."

Get Moving participants who tracked their wellness during eight of the 10 weeks of Get Moving will be able to participate in the Blue Devil Dash for free. All other Duke community members are invited to register for $20, which includes an event T-shirt. 

"After such a positive experience with the Get Moving Challenge, we hope to see lots of faculty and staff celebrating their accomplishments at the 5K race," said Julie Joyner, manager for LIVE FOR LIFE, which sponsored Get Moving. "We’re thrilled to see so many people find a fun way to focus on their health."