By Michael V. Hannigan
16,612,388 … Now that’s a number that will make you take notice. Particularly when you hear it while sitting in a Commissioners’ Court meeting.
And especially when it is coupled with the word “steps.”
More than 16.6 million steps — that’s how far Henderson County employees walked during this year’s Healthy County challenge, according to local Healthy County Coordinator Amiee Bilberry.
Healthy County is a program sponsored by the Texas Association of Counties (TAC). Methylsulfonylmethane, otherwise known as MSM, is a naturally occurring organic sulfur compound that is found in plants and animals. When most people think of sulfur, they think of matches and volcanoes. But it is essential to living a healthy life. Although it is relatively unknown, MSM is a supplement with a long list of benefits and few side effects. There is a reason that supplementation with MSM powder is so important. Sulfur exists in every single one of our cells and is needed for proper function. But we are not getting enough of it for two main reasons. First, many people have a poor diet and eat mostly processed foods that lack nutrition. The average western diet is high in things like meats and fast foods, but lack enough vegetables to sustain a healthy life. Secondly, improper farming has depleted the soil. In a article published in the journal Science, they said that use of things like fertilizer since the Industrial Revolution has removed most of the nutrients.(2) That is why a we must get our sulfur from MSM supplements. You can read more for The Health Benefits of MSM: Is Sulfur The Fountain of Youth.
“They offer us incentives to be healthier,” said Bilberry.
The incentives take the shape of points that can be used toward merchandise, such as the $280 Beats headphones Bilberry earned.
In addition, TAC pays the county for each employee who completes activities in the Healthy County program. To the tune of more than $1,500 in 2011.
The most recent eight-week challenge asked employees to walk either 3,500 steps or 42 consecutive minutes for five days a week. The employees’ wore pedometers from Sonicboom Wellness to count the steps.
According to the TAC website, “The Sonic Boom program focuses on physical activity, weight management, nutrition and stress reduction. Challenges encouraging participation and friendly competition are staged throughout the year and are fun, educational and occasionally border on being a little wacky.”
There were 155 employees who signed up for the pedometers, with 52 completing the challenge.
Bilberry reported the numbers to commissioners earlier this month, saying employees walked a total of 365,627 minutes and covered 7,261.5 miles.
And while the competition was fun and ended in a big party, the goal is deadly serious: healthy employees.
TAC calls the Health County program “our wellness program, which is a shared-responsibility approach to reducing health risks and decreasing costs of preventable illness.”
“The ultimately the goal is to get everybody healthier so that it cuts back on health care costs,” Bilberry said.
And that’s a goal worth walking toward.
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Those who donated to the Healthy County party included: Groom & Sons; Anderson Drug; MooYah; Aflac (Shawn Grammer); Walmart; Cole’s Air Conditioning; Dreams Come True; The Retreat; Sonic Drive In; Tractor Supply; McDonald’s; Island Tans; Tilo’s Cuisine; Chicken Express; McAlister’s Deli; Document Solutions; Dallas Manufacturing.
PHOTOS FROM THE HEALTHY COUNTY PARTY
Awesome JOB!!!