Hot Springs National Park and CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs are partnering for a seasonal wellness program that begins Saturday at Whittington Park.
Hike to Health aims to promote healthy activity by bringing in a local health professional to explain the benefits of outdoor physical activity.
“We are truly excited to partner with CHI St. Vincent,” said Kendra Barratt, volunteer coordinator at Hot Springs National Park. “It’s a regional health network (provider) in central and southwest Arkansas, so with this partnership they will send a physician or other licensed health care provider to co-host these events with us.
“The idea is that for each event there will be a different health theme that relates to physical activity and spending time in nature and how it benefits our health.” So the physician we have for the first inaugural event is Dr. Jason Pelton, who is an interventional cardiologist at (CHI St. Vincent) Hot Springs Heart Clinic, and he’s going to focus on how physical activity improves cardiovascular health.”
The president of CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs Dr. Doug Ross said in a news release that this event reflects the long history of Hot Springs and health.
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“Hot Springs has a rich history of personal renewal and commitment to health,” he said. “The public will not want to miss this event, which provides an exciting way to get involved in history and learn more about health from the doctors of CHI St.” Vincent as they actively work to improve their health.”
Saturday’s event begins at 9 a.m. at the Whittington Pitcher Fountain with a short talk by Barratt before handing over the program to Pelton.
“I’m going to start and welcome everyone, introduce them to the park and the Health Walk program and give a quick interpretive talk because this (national) park is fundamentally about public health and health promotion,” Barratt said.
“We have a really, really deep history in public health, so I’m going to do a quick interpretive talk about that. And then I’ll turn it over to Dr. Pelton, who will walk us through the health benefits of physical activity. And then the big event within the event is we’re going to do a guided walk around Whittington Park.”
Barratt said that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a written prescription was required to enter the baths.
“Most people think it’s just to take a bath, but actually the prescriptions often include taking a bath and walking the trails,” she said. “So our trail system has been here in Hot Springs National Park for a very, very long time, and it’s been used specifically for health promotion purposes because doctors found back in the early 20th century that cardiovascular health and stamina actually benefit people’s overall health.
“So with that kind of foundation of our trail system, I think it’s really exciting to bring that energy back to the park and encourage local residents specifically to use our trail system.” I know a lot do, but I think we could have even more people use the park for recreation and health,” Barratt said.
The hiking trail around Whittington Park is not as strenuous as many of the trails in the national park, and Barratt said it complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“It’s flat; it’s not super intense,” she said. “It’s a great introduction for people who maybe don’t walk very often, or hiking seems like a really big daunting task, to facilitate outdoor physical activity in an environment that’s people-friendly and maybe more familiar.”
“And just from an accessibility standpoint, people can bring their kids and strollers. The Whittington Trail is a packed gravel trail that is relatively flat, so if you have a sturdier wheelchair that is also welcome. We would be cutting those people out of this event if we held it on West Mountain or on the Hot Springs Mountain trails.”
Barratt said the event is free and open to the public, and the guided walk will be approximately 1 to 2 miles.
“The whole idea is for it to be an informal setting where people can interact with both the park rangers and the health care providers and talk about a health topic while we’re being physically active outside,” she said.
It’s the first of a series of events — two in the spring and two in the fall — that are part of the National Park Service’s Healthy Parks Healthy People program, Barratt said.
“It’s called the National Park Service’s Healthy Parks Healthy People program, which is an effort to use public lands as resources for community health and wellness,” she said. “This program has been around since at least the beginning of 2010. There was a big push before the National Park Service’s centennial celebration in 2016 to start more health-based programming in the parks. The effort has never stopped, so this is part of a larger effort at the national level.”
For more information email Barat at [email protected].
A man walks the Whittington Trail. Hot Springs National Park partners with CHI St. Vincent for a Hike to Health event Saturday at the park. (The Sentinel-Record/Donald Cross)
A man walks a dog on the Whittington Trail. Hot Springs National Park partners with CHI St. Vincent for a Hike to Health event Saturday at the park. (The Sentinel-Record/Donald Cross)