Women of the ELCA Health Initiative: What Women Are Doing

Women of the ELCA groups and individuals are getting excited about the health initiative. Read what others are doing — maybe even get an idea for your unit or group. Then send us your brief story about your health-related activities and we'll post it here.

October 1, 2006
Participants at the Healthy Hearts event in Chicago shared what they are doing in their congregations.

Jan Hultgren participates in the "St. Paul Healthy Heart Million-Minute Challenge." She told the audience about the program that involves about 20 people at any time at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Villa Park, Ill. It began about three years ago, Hultgren said. Participants keep track of the minutes they exercise — walking, cycling, jogging, etc. — and phone in their numbers each month. Totals are recorded on a chart at the church and reported in the bulletin, she said. Each February, around St. Valentine's Day, the congregation hosts a heart-healthy lunch or breakfast, to celebrate progress and to present awards. Hultgren said participants are about 280,000 minutes away from meeting the challenge to log one million minutes of exercise.

At Capital Drive Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, "The Journey to Healthy Living" uses competition as an incentive. Julie Pekarske, RN, serves as parish nurse for the congregation in partnership with Luther Manor, Wauwatosa, Wis. Participants receive a book with suggested Bible readings and information about healthy food and activities — from exercise to social events and service opportunities. Pekarske told the audience that points are awarded for each activity. Each week the 30 to 40 participants phone in their points, and the numbers are totaled for each of their teams, she said. "We did it before Thanksgiving," Pekarske said. "People did feel good about going into the holidays, because they were eating healthier and exercising," she said.

June 12, 2006
We have had our meeting and a few women from our congregation are going to walk two mornings a week using the "Here I Step: Summer Steppin'" program from the ELCA Board of Pensions. (The walking group is open to the entire congregation; however, only women are participating at this point.) I hope that more people will join us once we begin. Those who cannot join us in the morning due to schedule conflicts are walking on their own (with or without a buddy) and using the same summer program. We plan to walk for the intended six weeks but hope to walk the entire summer. We will meet, pray, stretch, and then go on a walk (according to ability level).

Sincerely,
Carrie Tate
Holy Cross Lutheran Church, ELCA
Beatrice, Nebraska

Ed. note: See the health page for a link to the Summer Steppin' program.

May 5, 2006
Since I became president of our Women of the ELCA group at St. John, and did not know much about Women of the ELCA, I have used Lutheran Woman Today and Interchange to bring information to our group. I have been one of the primary leaders for the "Act Boldly in the Fruit of the Spirit" Bible study, and always gave a presentation on Praying for Peacemakers and Health Wise. The Health Wise subjects have been very informative and well received by our group, which is small — 5 to 10 participants each month. So I made a decision to have a major meeting, calling it a meeting on the Women of the ELCA Health Initiative, once a year during this triennium.

The first meeting was held March 26. The theme was a "Sunday Afternoon Tea" with silver teapots and tiny sandwiches, fruit, and tea. I contacted our local hospital and the Chief of OB/GYN volunteered to speak to us. It was a success. Thirty women attended. The doctor gave a graphic talk on up-to-date procedures for incontinence and an update on cancer treatment. The talk was up-front and personal, but the information was well received. Since the median age of our group is about 60, most of the women could relate to the information. They thought it was a great idea to have a health meeting. Two of them have offered to prepare an agenda that includes a Health Initiative program in September 2006 at our next general meeting, covering general wellness. 

We are fortunate in our town to have another hospital that has a very active Wellness Office. The director of the Wellness Office gave a talk at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Cluster meeting on April 1 in Towanda, Pa.

The point of this e-mail is that women are taking the health initiative seriously and a women's church group can be effective in getting information on health issues. I wanted to share my joy and enthusiasm with Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and let you know this is a great program for the 2005–2008 triennium.

Joyce Egge, President
Women of the ELCA
St. John Lutheran Church
Sayre, Pennsylvania