MVP Striders Club Helps Poughkeepsie Residents Take Steps Towards a Healthy Lifestyle
At 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 13th, the food court of the Poughkeepsie Galleria Mall is empty. A few mall employees work to clean the area and prepare it for the day’s shoppers, but other than that, it is deserted.
During business hours, the food court is typically full of people taking a snack break from shopping, or sitting and chatting with friends. But on Thursday mornings from 8:30–9:30 a.m., the space is host to a new group of people: the MVP Striders Walking Club.
The Striders Walking Club is a program created by MVP Health Care that was “started as a grassroots effort of our Medicare Community Health Promotion team to connect with the community and our members. We are interested in deploying and facilitating programs that bring awareness, motivation, skills and opportunities for people to improve their health,” Kristine Lindahl, manager of Medicare Community Health Promotion at MVP Health Care, said.
One of the group’s “primary goals is to promote healthy daily decision-making around self-care in as many different and effective ways that we can,” Lindahl said. “We are committed to bringing quality health promotion programs to all the communities we serve.”
The group’s meetings provide an incentive for residents of Poughkeepsie and its neighboring areas to be active each week, and gives them a safe, worry free environment to exercise in. Without the threat of speeding cars and the stress of sharing the sidewalk or street with bikers, walkers are free to move at their own pace and do as many laps around the third floor of the mall as they would like.
Besides offering a safe space to walk, the MVP Striders Club also provides some level of structure and guidance for members. Members of the MVP Health Care staff attend meetings, sign club members in and lead warm-ups at the beginning of each session.
When asked why she liked being a part of the Striders Club one walker answered, “It’s safer than walking outside… and warmer too.” Another said, “It’s more fun to walk with other people than to walk by myself.”
The social aspect of the club definitely seems to be one of the biggest attractions for members. People that had never met before the club’s kick-off event on March 30th are now good friends, and chat excitedly with each other before warm-ups in the food court. They share news about their lives and things that had happened to them in the week since they had last seen each other, and welcome in any new members.
Even though the Striders Club program is only scheduled to run at the Poughkeepsie Galleria until May 18th, but the friendships and excitement for exercise that Poughkeepsie residents gain through the program will last long past May.
The Poughkeepsie Galleria Striders Club is one of MVP Health Care’s two Striders Clubs that are currently running (the other is located in Albany’s Colonie Center and will run until May 17th). For more information visit MVP’s website or attend one of the clubs’ meetings.
