Project Details
Creating Community-based Partnerships to Improve Community Health and Wellness
Forbes Family Medicine Residency
Forbes Family Medicine enjoys relationships with Walk With a Doc (WWAD) and Plant-Based Pittsburgh (PBP), two local community organizations. These partnerships help the residency promote lifestyle-oriented goals and building healthy habits. Through our Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum, residents develop in-depth knowledge of nutrition, exercise, stress management, sleep, interpersonal connections, and cessation of risky substances. Applying additional support from the RIG program to our WWAD chapter and partnership with PBP, the residency has been able to share its knowledge of lifestyle medicine with residents and community members through a series of community events.
Community Collaboration
We utilized funding from the PAFP grant to support our ongoing chapter membership with the Walk with a Doc program, and related costs of operating the bimonthly events. We also held a “Lifestyle Medicine” seminar at our local senior center. In partnership with Plant-Based Pittsburgh, we organized and sponsored a “Plant Food Power Series,” involving lifestyle-medicine teaching seminars and cooking classes.
Putting Lifestyle Medicine to Work
Through studying the pillars of lifestyle medicine and providing teaching seminars on plant-based eating and the importance of physical activity, the researchers of this project—like the participants—were encouraged to implement said changes into their daily routines.
The skills taught in our plant-based eating seminars and the habits of physical activity inspired by our Walk with a Doc events can be used by any member of the community to make life-lasting changes in their daily lives. We are optimistic that given the participants’ pre-application notions of wanting to improve their overall health, they will move forward with the skills we have taught them.
Being able to work so closely with the community we serve regarding a subject we are passionate about was a uniquely rewarding experience that would not have been possible without the generous assistance of the PAFP.
Future plans for continuing these initiatives include expanding our walk events to include hiking events and possibly a running group. In collaboration with our Sports Medicine interest group, we are creating exercise videos so participants can remain active during the winter months in the comfort of their homes.
This spring, volunteers from Plant Based Pittsburgh give our residents cooking lessons during a didactic session. Our partnerships with WWAD and PBP, will prove valuable in our collective work combatting the ongoing epidemic of chronic diseases that riddles our nation.
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