More health help
North Georgia Health Care Center in Ringgold is offering a Chronic Disease Self-Management workshop to the public Friday, May 6 from 1:30-4:30 p.m. It is part of the Living Well Seniors for the Area Agency on Aging six-week series, and is free.“They cover kidney disease, heart disease, fibromyalgia, arthritis, cancer, depression and stress,” said NGHCC Program Director Sharron Mitchell. “A lot of seniors deal with depression. It has become a chronic disease. We are doing this series primarily because we have patients within our patient base dealing with these diseases. We want to help people become more aware of their health. Eating healthy is important. What we eat affects our mental state. Staying active socially and physically is important too.”
Ringgold Mayor Nick Millwood is launching a Health and Wellness Committee and an “Outdoor Ringgold” Facebook page.
“Every Tuesday, we do a Community Health Walk at 6:30 p.m. from City Hall to the Nature Trail,” said Millwood. “We walk two and a half miles to four miles together.”
The group gathers at Ringgold City Hall before setting off, and all are welcome to join in the fun. The series kicked off on April 19 and will continue through the fall, until it is too cold to continue walking nightly, he said.
Thirty people attended the first walk. Millwood said he’d like to see that number grow.
According to committee member Mike Key, Millwood wanted to start the group to give people in Ringgold an opportunity to not only get out and be active but to also get together and get to know each other better.
“It’s about bringing the town together to be involved and active,” Key said. “For me, I feel that too much of our time is spent inside and secluded. It’s been so nice getting together on Tuesdays, making new friends and getting some cardio in.”
Key said he was eager to join the committee and help the mayor find active things for the community to do in town.
“We are just trying to get more community involvement in Ringgold,” said Health and Wellness Committee Chairman Brandon Shirey, owner of Above the Ridge. “Chattanooga and Knoxville have Outdoor Chattanooga and Outdoor Knoxville. In our community there’s lots to do outdoors. We want [residents] to know about Elsie Holmes Nature Park and the Nature Trail. We want to come up with events to get more people involved in our area in the outdoors.”
Millwood, who is the Ringgold Middle School cross-country coach, said he saw the need for a program like this.
“I personally am passionate about health and fitness,” he said. “I encourage kids to have proper nutrition. I thought I could use my position as mayor to influence even more people in the community to be active in the community.”
So he approached the City Council about forming a Health and Wellness Committee.
“It started with 11 members,” said Millwood. “I decided to create a large committee to reach as many people as we could.”
The group meets together, walks and brainstorms on fitness goals and ideas, he said, adding that the group may host a 5k in the future.
“We talked about organizing a community trash pickup,” said Millwood. “We want to be active to do positive things for the community.”
He said he invites his RMS runners to take part in the walks too.
“We have business owners and registered nurses and people from within and around the community excited to take part in the walk,” said Millwood. “A healthy lifestyle is so important and this is a very important project to jump into.”