The American Heart Association continues to be a relentless force for a world of longer,
healthier lives during these unprecedented times. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have been promoting new ways to adopt healthy lifestyles and moving more whilst abiding by social distancing and stay at home orders.
To mark National Walking Day on April 1, we challenged companies in the Greater Washington Region to take up our Virtual Step Challenge, locally presented
by Sheehy Auto Stores. Employees from 28 companies walked throughout the day (whilst social distancing!), sending in their step count to go towards their company’s total and sharing their steps on social media using #MoveMoreDC.
We had a fantastic response from participating companies:
- “Now more than ever, folks need to feel a sense of (virtual) community, engagement and purpose. This walk gave a sense of normalcy that is missing right now. I’ve gotten so many thank you’s from teammates around the country for coordinating this – something so simple which, at a time like this, has so much meaning and impact.” – Michelle Bailey, DMV Links Team Captain-Arlington (VA) Chapter
- This was a really fun thing to do “together.”” – Jen Brill, One Digital
- “Thank you so much for including us, our staff really enjoyed it. I hope there will be more during this time of social distancing.” – Shay Martello, CTSI
- “We had a great time doing this.” – Katie Greattie, SIA
The DMV Links recorded the highest company total during the day, with their participants combining to walk over a million steps. PS Digital and Kaiser Permanente walked the second most steps and third. Across all participants, our amazing local supporters walked for over 2.5 million steps totalling approximately 1,250 miles!
As well as a great way to mark National Walking Day, it was also a fantastic start to AHA’s Move More Month which runs throughout April. We have lots of tips on how you can get active this month whilst keeping to the current guidelines in place – find out more here! https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/getting-active/how-to-move-more-anytime-anywhere
