A new initiative called Washington 150 is working to increase the physical activity of residents of Washington by increasing how much each person walks.

Administrator of Washington County Public Health Danielle Pettit-Majewski explains the project is a partnership between her department and the University of Iowa physical activity intervention class, “Actually this was the brainchild of that class and we’re really excited about it. We told them that we wanted to find a way to increase physical activity in our community and so they came up with the idea of Washington 150, which is really all about how you can get 150 minutes of physical activity each week by breaking it down into 22 minutes a day.” The students did a walkability study and from that created maps of safe walking routes throughout town. Ultimately those maps will be available online once the website is ready to launch.

Pettit-Majewski explains walking 22 minutes each day impacts your overall health, “It helps reduce type 2 diabetes, your risk for type 2 diabetes, but also just improves your overall health. It’s going to get your heart rate up.” She adds it’s free and low impact, so people with joint issues can add this to their routine.

To hear more about Washington 150 initiative listen to Monday and Tuesday’s Washington Page program with Pettit-Majewski.