Could you walk a billion steps in a year? (WBAL)

Wednesday Aug 2nd, 2017

BALTIMORE —

Could you walk a billion steps in a year? That's the challenge posed by Baltimore City and the Baltimore City Health Department as part of a new initiative that kicks off this weekend.

"We're trying to get 1 billion steps by next year, and we know we can do it," walking ambassador Coach Donte Samuel said.

 

Baltimore's Billion Step Challenge asks city residents of all ages to reach that goal in the next year.

"That campaign involves the city actually organizing events throughout the year that people can come and participate in, but it also is going to include us inventorying all the great things that are already happening in the city related to opportunities for people to get active and be more fit," said Greg Sileo, with the Baltimore Health Department.

That includes things like the November Project that brings folks together for a fun workout, or the Safe Zones at Belmont Camp to get kids started on a healthy lifestyle while they're still young.

Read the entire story. 

Related Stories

Lead poisoning cases fell 19 percent in Baltimore last year, even as more children tested for exposure (Baltimore Sun)

The number of Baltimore children with lead poisoning fell 19 percent in 2017, even as more children were tested for exposure to the powerful neurotoxin.

Statewide, the number of Maryland children found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood held steady even as the number of children tested increased by 10 percent, according to a Maryland Department of the Environment report released Tuesday.

Read the entire story.

Azar Unveils Plan to Help Pregnant Patients Quit Opioids (MedPage Today)

States will get help from the federal government integrating services for pregnant and postpartum Medicaid patients with opioid use disorder under a pilot program announced Tuesday by Health and Hu

Trump declared an emergency over opioids. A new report finds it led to very little. (Vox)

To much fanfare last year, President Donald Trump ordered his administration to declare a public health emergency over the opioid epidemic. “As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue,” Trump said at the time. “It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction.”

When I’ve asked experts about these approaches, it’s not that any of them are bad. It’s that they fall short. For instance, Leana Wen, the former health commissioner of Baltimore (and soon-to-be president of Planned Parenthood), said that the Support for Patients and Communities Act “is simply tinkering around the edges.”

Read the entire story.

Visit the Newsroom