By Laura Moses
A pedometer lending program now available in all city libraries is just one step in a 10,000-step program to get Ottawa residents more physically active.
“Now you can go to the library and you can take out a pedometer just the way you can take out a book to see what kind of walking you’re doing,” said Dr. Robert Cushman, Ottawa’s chief medical officer, during the Active Ottawa campaign launch on Oct. 29.
Pedometers are step counters that were popularized when they appeared at the bottomof cereal boxes last June.
On Nov. 1, 660 of the devices were made available through the Ottawa Public Library branches, along with a health guide that challenges Ottawa residents to take 10,000 steps a day, the average number of steps an adult needs to stay healthy.
The tiny device is set to tackle a huge and complex problem.
Walking on a regular basis reduces the risk of disease such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and it also increases life expectancy, says Cushman.
“What we want to do is make Ottawa the healthiest city in not only Ontario, but in Canada,” says John Campbell, vice-president of development at the YMCA/YWCA.
The pedometer lending program is just the first in a series of strategies by the province, the city and several other Ottawa community partners to fight obesity and inactivity, says Campbell.
According to Linda Standing, manager of circulation services for all the Ottawa Library branches, 77 pedometers were put on reserve in the first week they were available.
The library was chosen as a dispensing point for the pedometers because “it has 33 locations around the city, a bookmobile service, and it is accessible to everyone,” says Standing.
In Ottawa, 40 per cent of teens and adults are inactive in their leisure time, says Dr. Diane Finegood, head of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
At the program’s launch last month, Ottawa Centre MPP, Richard Patten announced a $55,800 grant from the Ministry of Tourism and Recreation for Ottawa Active’s future projects.
Fourteen thousand dollars of that money went towards the purchase of the pedometers.
Heather Seaman, physical activity project officer for the City of Ottawa, says this is a small but significant step.