National Start Walking Day

Per Direction of the Deputy Secretary of Defense
William J. Lynn, III, commencement of a Defense-wide wellness campaign, DSCA has kicked off a robust program. As a visible and tangible sign, I had the opportunity to lead our headquarters staff and take part in “National Start! Walking Day” sponsored by the American Heart Association. The National event was organized to promote exercise and bring awareness to heart disease, stroke and other blood vessel diseases.

There is an old line about the saying, when they rolled someone out of the building who died at work, they probably never said, I wish I would have spent more time at work. So, at DSCA, thanks to a very energetic Navy Lieutenant we’ve kicked off a multi-pronged approach to the issue of wellness. At the kick off, I said, “No one dies in our office on my watch at DSCA.” Our program has both a foundation in wellness and additionally has changing focus each month through the year. Next month is mental health.

To my delight, the response has been phenomenal! I’m known for being data driven…so here are some facts; before the walk, I took the opportunity to announce the winner of the Principal Director DSCA Pe­dometer challenge, which took place between 29 March and 2 April. With 104,631 steps, Ann Cataldo (DBO) won handily. For the grand prize, her directorate gets to have a casual Friday and has been granted 59 minutes early release on Friday.

The second and third place winners were Jeanne Farmer (PGM) with 52,590 steps and Steve Manthei (IT) with 45,955. When converted to miles, Ann walked the equivalent of 41 miles, Jeanne 21 miles and Steve 18 miles. I’d say that is a remarkable start on our way to embrace Secretary Lynn’s direction and the outcome we intended.