News

Lewes Steps Out For Fitness Event Takes Place July 10

07/01/08

Don't worry if you missed the kick-off ceremony of Lewes Steps Out For Fitness. Everyone is invited to join in on the fun. The next Lewes Steps Out For Fitness event will take place at 6 p.m., Thursday, July 10, at the George H.P. Smith Park in Lewes where Mark Blaskey, PT, Director of Rehabilitation Services at Beebe Medical Center, will demonstrate Tai Chi. Those attending will be able to join in on a Tai Chi group event, and register, if they did not get a chance to do so the first week. All participants will have the opportunity to register the number of minutes they have spent exercising over the past two weeks.

The theme of this year's Lewes Steps Out For Fitness event is "Make Every Minute Count," and with that new theme is a change in the goal of the event. Instead of having participants add up the 'steps' they walk or run, participants will add up the minutes that they spend in healthy activities that get their hearts pumping and improve their overall physical fitness.

The objective of this year's Lewes Steps Out For Fitness Committee is to get 400 participants to exercise 30 minutes each day for five days a week, between June 26 and September 18, equaling 720,000 minutes of healthy exercise. All participants will receive stopwatches when they sign up so that they can count the minutes they exercise.

Participants will gather every other Thursday evening at 6 p.m. to take part in fitness-related programs and to share in the fun. Nurses from Beebe Medical Center will be on hand to check blood pressures every evening. This year the gatherings will take place at the lovely green setting of the George H.P. Smith Park, which surrounds Block House Pond. The park is so centrally located that Lewes residents are encouraged to walk and ride their bicycles to the events. For those who drive, parking is free and available in the park's parking lot, in the Consortium's parking lot that is adjacent to the park, and in the Beebe Medical Center parking lot nearest to the park.

Those events include:
" July 10: Tai Chi demonstration and group activity with Mark Blaskey, PT, Director of Rehabilitation Services at Beebe Medical Center.
" July 24: Bicycle Safety Night with demonstrations, information and an organized ride; presentations by Lewes Police Department.
" August 7: Yoga demonstration by Quest Fitness.
" August 21: Pilates demonstration by Quest Fitness.
" September 4: Healthy cooking demonstration and healthy recipes by Beseme restaurant.
" September 18: Closing ceremony and awards presentations to take place at Lewes Public Beach.


Lewes Steps Out For Fitness is sponsored by the City of Lewes, Lewes Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, Quest Fitness, Beebe Medical Center and Cape Gazette. Members of the organizing committee are: Lewes Mayor Jim Ford; Betsy Reamer, Lewes Chamber of Commerce; Wally Evans, Lewes Fire Department; Matt Carter of Quest Fitness; Dennis Forney, Publisher of the Cape Gazette; Jeffrey M. Fried, FACHE, President and CEO of Beebe Medical Center; Mark Thompson, Director of Public Relations and Community Health for Beebe Medical Center; Kim Westcott, MS, RD, CNSD, CSO, and Peggy Diehl, RN, MSN, CEN, Beebe Medical Center Community Health Nurse Coordinator.

For further information about Lewes Steps Out For Fitness, contact Betsy Reamer, Executive Director of the Lewes Chamber of Commerce at 645-8073.

Beebe Medical Center is a not-for-profit community medical center with a charitable mission to encourage healthy living, prevent illness, and restore optimal health with the people residing, working, or visiting in the communities we serve. For more information, please visit us online at www.beebemed.org