Nuvance GetFit Challenge encourages a summer of sweat

At Nuvance Health, even team members who aren’t part of the medical staff can make significant contributions to the health of the community. The GetFit challenge, a six-week course designed to encourage fitness and physical activity from June 4 to July 15, grew out of efforts by the health care provider’s communications team.

Marcela Rojas, a manager of public and community affairs who focuses primarily on Nuvance’s locations in Putnam and Duchess Counties, explained the humble beginnings of the challenge.

“The program started back in 2014 and it was originally called the Walkway Fitness Challenge,”Rojas said. “It was a challenge on the Walkway over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie. Originally, we chose different locations where people could work out, whether it was at a park or a gym. It was originally location based and you could log your activities for a chance to win prizes.”Eventually the program grew to include options in Connecticut, but when the pandemic hit Rojas explained that it became necessary to provide ways to engage in socially distanced exercise, which led to the current online logging system. They also took the opportunity to open the challenge to activities besides walking.

“When you log your activity, you just put what you did, whether you went for a walk, went bike riding, or swimming, or whatever activity. Even if it was stretching, we just ask that you log 30 minutes of exercise a day,”said Rojas.

Two key systems are in place to encourage participation. For those who respond well to competitive activities, a ranking system will allow participants to see how they measure up to others participating in terms of overall activity logged. Additionally, a graduated system of prizes can help spur activity for those who might be less interested in how they stack up overall.

Those who log 12 entries will be entered into a raffle to win a pair of Apple AirPods, while those who log 18 entries will get a chance at a Theragun Mini massager. Those who manage to log 25 separate workouts of at least 30 minutes will have a chance to win an Oura Ring, a sleek piece of tech that looks like a gender-neutral ring but is the latest fitness tracker.

To count towards the raffles, logged entries must be at least 30 minutes long, although there are no minimum or maximum amounts.

“This is our ninth year,”Rojas noted. “In that time, we have probably had more than 10,000 people participate since the program’s inception. This year we anticipate about 500 to 1000 people participating.”When asked why a non-medical branch of Nuvance decided to undertake a project to promote community health Rojas replied, “We are public and community affairs, so we have access to physicians and clinicians who give us tips and information. We hear all the time from our cardiac surgeons and cardiologists that exercise is one of the main things you can do to improve your heart health. So, we wanted to give this opportunity to the community to let them know about different ways they can improve their health.”Rojas also emphasized the ease of participation. There are no entry fees or qualifications, anybody over the age of 18 across both Westchester and Fairfield Counties is not only allowed but encouraged to join. Logging is based solely on the honor system.

“The whole reason we do this is that, while we do take care of sick people, we’re also in the business of prevention,”Rojas said, explaining that the challenge also fits into Nuvance Health efforts to promote healthy lifestyles across the communities they operate within. “We are very much about preventative care, and in our communities there is unfortunately a lot of obesity, diabetes, chronic diseases and heart disease. The fitness challenge is a way to shed light on that and promote wellness by encouraging people to take their own steps to exercise.”Those interested in participating or learning more about simple exercises to promote fitness can visit WeGetFit.org.

The hospitals in the Nuvance Health system include Danbury, New Milford, Norwalk and Sharon hospitals in Connecticut, and Northern Dutchess Hospital, Putnam Hospital and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in New York.