Interview

Rx: Walk for Health

Published

1 year ago

April 13, 2023

(l-r) Dr. Kelly Havig-Lipke, MD, FAAP, IBCLC, Lead Quality Provider & Staff Physician; Michelle Liechty, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, CPN, West Ashley Provider and Pavi Sreekumar, Manager of Quality Programs.

By: Claudie Benjamin, Guest Writer

Pediatrician Kelly Lipke, MD, says your child needs 60 minutes a day of active exercise. And, as an adult, even a healthy one, you already know it’s likely best to exercise more. No more stalling, mark the last Saturday of each month as your walking day, knowing all you need is to show up at 9 am at the gazebo in Hampton Park. The program is free. The concept is to walk in a beautiful place chatting as you go with like minded walkers who are embracing walking for health. Hampton Park with its winding patches and abundant flowering trees is an idealized setting. In cooler winter weather, the walks were held at the indoor track at Goose Creek Recreation Center.

Being proactive means not only by staying limber and fit, but also by taking on an activity that helps keep your weight down and control your blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Each meeting starts out with a clinical leader providing a less than five minute motivational intro which on one Saturday morning was, for example, on the health benefits of laughter.

The program which is now international was started in 2005 by Dr. David Sabgir, a cardiologist in Columbus Ohio. Clinical leaders are encouraged to move between the groups of walkers engaging participants in conversation while being open to questions. The national website is user friendly, allowing potential walkers to easily identify a group that’s conveniently located. Dr. Lipke enjoys the opportunity to meet and engage with community members and visitors.

Among the most usual questions Dr. Lipke is asked: “How much water should you drink every day? “How many steps should you take daily?” And, ” Why did you decide to be a pediatrician? ” They also ask, “Is this the right way to go ?” Dr. Lipke explains that “Hampton Park can be confusing, that’s why we have maps.”

Dr. Lipke has been with Coastal Pediatric Associates (CPA) for the past eight and a half years. The practice has more than 40 practitioners (including pediatricians, nurse practitioners and Physician Assistants and four offices in the Charleston area.

Originally from South Florida, Dr. Lipke completed her undergraduate degree at Williams College in Massachusetts and earned her MD back in Florida. She came to Charleston for an internship and residency at MUSC. She and her husband, a family practice physician, made Charleston their home and it’s where their four children grew up. While Dr. Lipke doesn’t consider herself an athlete, she’s always been very active and drawn to outdoor activities more than to fancy restaurants, big city shopping and urban entertainments. She and her family have spent many vacations hiking, rafting and camping. She said while their children were young, her husband prepared breakfast and got them ready for school so that she could have a good 45minutes to an hour of walking time. So, it’s not surprising that when the pediatric practice was looking into various aspects of quality improvement relating to managing children’s weight in consideration of lifestyle medicine, boosting an interest in walking for exercise seemed just the thing.

Small group branches off for stroll

Dr. Lipke’s Google searches identified the National Walk with a Doc as a doable enterprise that would not be expensive or difficult to launch and had the very promising potential of accomplishing positive goals for participants of any age and energy level. With outreach to new participants always a challenge, the group usually attracts between six and 25 participants. This includes children, parents, older couples and singles. Open to all, pace and distance is up to you. There is no fee to participate. Some participants come with babies in strollers and with pups on leashes.

Viewing Walk with a Doc as an opportunity not only to enrich patient care but to provide a needed community service, the Charleston group is very open to partnering with groups and organizations that have similar goals. Already, since Walk with a Doc started in Charleston August 2022, “We have had generous sponsors including Healthy Blue of South Carolina and Humana Healthy Horizons who have helped with goodies and snacks, says Pavi Sreekumar, Manager of Quality Programs at Coastal Pediatric Associates and co-director of Walk with a .

Other partnerships may be on the horizon. At the Saturday morning walk at the end of March, a MUSC medical student suggested to Dr. Lipke that cardiac patients would benefit and possibly the hospital should start a group. Dr. Lipke’s response was enthusiastic and the idea quickly took hold.

Pavi says, “As of our last walk, we have also established a partnership with MUSC Cardiology as they will be promoting our chapter of WWAD with their patients undergoing cardiac rehab and those with greater cardiac risk factors.”

Asked about her personal feelings about the program, Pavi added, “My favorite part of Walk with a Doc is the fellowship! I truly enjoy seeing other CPA staff as well as meeting different people from the community and hearing their stories. I also feel more confident, engaged, and motivated in my own personal health journey as I am learning many useful tips from our providers’ health talks.”