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Submitted by Healthy Savannah
March 18, 2024 – A grass-roots initiative that started as a pandemic solution for people to escape isolation has become a popular early morning routine for many Savannahians. Every Tuesday at 7:30 a.m., Healthy Savannah’s Paula Kreissler and Armand Turner don their walking shoes and lead participants on Healthy Walks around Savannah and Chatham County.
Now, after having since offered more than 150 Healthy Walks over the past four years, the organization is celebrating the initiative by encouraging the community to join them at a special anniversary walk.
On Tuesday, March 26, the public is invited to meet up with members of Healthy Savannah, the YMCA of Coastal Georgia and Friends of Tide to Town to celebrate the 4th anniversary of Healthy Walks. Walkers will gather at 7:30 a.m. in the parking area at Scarborough Sports Complex, Skidaway at Bona Bella Ave. This will be a low-impact two-mile walk along a portion of the Tide To Town Urban Trail system known as the Truman Linear Park Trail, which is level and accessible, with wide, paved walkways and highly visible pedestrian crosswalks. The walk will last about an hour and end back at the starting point.
“At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when so many people were isolated and homebound, this activity grew from a need for folks to get out and participate in a safe social setting that also encouraged physical fitness,” said Turner, deputy director, Healthy Savannah and board president, Friends of Tide to Town. “It was also a way for people to experience our local trails and parks and see areas of our city and county from a different perspective.”
Founded in 2007 by Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson with the aim of making Savannah a healthier place to live, Healthy Savannah has since grown into a dedicated coalition of over 200 partner organizations with which the organization leads, collaborates and innovates equitable solutions for the sustained health of all Savannahians.
Together with the YMCA of Coastal Georgia, Healthy Savannah currently administers a five-year $5.1 million Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant to foster sustainable health equity among racial and ethnic minority populations in low-wealth neighborhoods in areas of nutrition, physical activity and the reduction of chronic diseases. A portion of the grant funding supports the development and use of the Tide to Town urban trail system.
The Friends of Tide to Town was founded in 2018 to lead the community-based engagement, implementation and stewardship of Tide to Town, through the lens of health and equity.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates a single session of moderate to vigorous physical activity such as a brisk walk can provide immediate health benefits including improved sleep, less anxiety, and lowered blood pressure. Long-term benefits can include improved heart and brain health, a healthier weight, bone strength and even a lower risk for certain cancers.
But CDC data also indicates only 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 5 high school students fully meet physical activity guidelines for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities.
“While these walks do encourage physical activity, we also want weekly walkers to have fun while exploring activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations all around our community,” said Kreissler, Healthy Savannah’s executive director. “We might invite someone who knows about the history of the area to walk along and tell the story behind the trail or point out significant landmarks of the area we’re visiting. It gives you an entirely new perspective of places you might have always known but never really knew.”
Kreissler says the March 26 anniversary walk will take walkers along a section of the Truman Trail which has newly planted camellias.
Savannah City Council recently approved an over $8 million contract for the second phase of the Truman Trail construction. The first three miles, completed during the pandemic, run from Lake Mayer to DeRenne Ave. The next segment will run for about three miles picking up at DeRenne Ave. near Jenkins High School to 52nd St. and Bee Rd. Construction is expected to get underway later this year. Once completed, it will fully connect the Lake Mayer Park Trail Loop to the Daffin Park Trail Loop, creating nine miles of continuous off- and on-road bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure through the heart of Savannah.
“In our most recent Healthy Savannah survey, which we have conducted each year since 2014, respondents said they would walk or bike to work, school and shopping if there were bike paths and sidewalks,” said Turner. “That’s precisely what we’re striving to accomplish through the Tide to Town urban trail project.”
Almost all (87%) of Healthy Savannah’s 2023 survey respondents said that sidewalks/paths in areas for walking to work, school, and businesses are fairly or extremely important. A majority (70%) further indicated that they use the city and county parks at least once a month or more and (75%) participate in physical activities a few times a month or more.
“Our observational data also shows that Black and white residents use the trail in nearly equal numbers,” said Turner. “The trail system is creating a safe, stress-free place to walk, jog, skate or bicycle for all.”
Turner says the Tide to Town project is also gaining greater momentum now that the City has brought a project manager on board. The group is additionally working with City staff on an official agreement between Friends of Tide to Town and the City of Savannah that outlines how the two entities can work together to ensure the trail system is constructed and maintained with equity and health in mind. When completed, Tide to Town will include a network of 30+ miles of bikeable and walkable trails connecting more than 60 neighborhoods and 30 schools in Savannah and Chatham County, from downtown to the marshes and waterways.
“We encourage everyone to get out and get healthy, whether you join our Healthy Walks or explore these routes on your own, using the Healthy Walks map,” said Kreissler. “You can also watch live streams and recordings of our walks on Healthy Savannah’s Facebook page.”
Healthy Savannah’s online Healthy Walks map, https://healthysavannah.org/our-programs/physical-activity/healthy-walks-story-map/, shows trail routes all across Savannah and Chatham County. Trail users are encouraged to share walk experiences by tagging photos and videos with #HealthyWalk and #ActivePeople.
The next healthy walk is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. on April 2 at Whitemarsh Preserve, 68 Johnny Mercer Blvd, Savannah, GA 31410. To learn about upcoming Healthy Walks, click on Healthy Savananh’s Healthy Activities calendar, https://healthysavannah.org/healthy-activities/, and to watch live streams of their walks every Tuesday morning, visit Healthy Savannah’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/healthysav and Healthy Savannah’s Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/officialhltysav/
ABOUT THE YMCA OF COASTAL GEORGIA/HEALTHY SAVANNAH GRANT FOR RACIAL AND ETHNIC APPROACHES TO COMMUNITY HEALTH: In September 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded a second grant called Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) to Healthy Savannah and the YMCA of Coastal Georgia. $5.1 million in funding is being deployed over a five-year period to be utilized in an “upstream” approach to foster sustainable health equity among racial and ethnic minority populations in low-wealth neighborhoods in areas of nutrition, physical activity and the reduction of chronic diseases. The renewed funding enables work to continue which began under the initial, five-year, $3.4 million REACH grant awarded in 2018, and a supplemental grant awarded in 2021 to increase awareness and acceptance of COVID-19 and flu adult immunizations. Working with more than 200 community partners and organizations, the Savannah/Chatham County project team’s specific goals in implementing the new five-year grant include fostering physical activity by creating greater access to safe places to walk, run, bike and play; elevating the health and wellness of the community through policy, systems, and environmental change; and providing education and awareness regarding adult immunizations, especially as they relate to health disparities in chronic conditions of hypertension, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity. The administrators will also continue to foster stronger connections between people and the healthcare providers who serve them by supporting awareness and use of the HERO Help Me database. In July 2022, Healthy Savannah received the CDC’s 2022 REACH Lark Galloway-Gilliam Award for Advancing Health Equity Challenge. The award recognizes extraordinary individuals and entities whose work has contributed to advancing health equity.
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