Building a Healthier Lexington

Walking into the local Walmart is common. Now, at the Lexington Walmart, it’s healthier, thanks to a partnership between the retail giant and Wake Forest Baptist Health – Lexington Medical Center.

As part of its community outreach efforts, Lexington Medical Center and the local Walmart Supercenter are teaming up to offer a series of free health education and wellness mini-conferences hosted monthly by the hospital’s professional staff.

The topics were drawn from what customers requested during an in-store survey. They include arthritis management, controlling your blood pressure and cholesterol, nutrition, sleep disorders and stress management.

The mini-conferences run about 15 minutes and repeat during the two hours of the program, which is held the first Saturday of each month from 11 am to 1 pm. Sessions are repeated from 4:30 to 6:30 pm the following Thursday.

Presenters vary based on the topic, but a registered nurse attends each session, and physicians sometimes attend as well. And members of the public can ask questions one-on-one after the mini-conferences.

Lexington Medical Center also has launched a program with Lexington City Schools hoping to influence pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students about the role of proper nutrition and exercise in their lives.

Health professionals spend two days each month, creating engaging presentations by dressing in costumes, using puppets and the like to share with all 410 students. They explore subjects such as fun foods, exercise, happy habits (good manners, hygiene and sleep habits) and staying safe.

The program will be expanded to include other primary schools in Davidson County as part of Lexington Medical Center’s “Healthier Lexington” initiative to promote good health through prevention among its youngest citizens.

The Healthier Lexington initiative includes other programs, such as: monthly screenings in the Outpatient Center for skin cancer, stroke and cardiac risk assessments; lunch-and-learn sessions at the YMCA on topics such as weight management, back pain and cardiac disease; a monthly Mom’s Lunch and Learn geared to the needs of young parents; and a 12-week childhood obesity program called Lex-Get-Fit.

 

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