Surgeon General Says - Get Moving!

"We've go plenty of science to tell us what we need to do - get moving!" said Richard Carmona, Surgeon General of the United States, at the Walk21 Conference in Portland, Oregon, May 1, 2003.

"The enemy is within us - being sedentary," he said to an audience of pedestrian advocates and city planners. "Walking is the biggest bang for our buck. Thirty minutes a day of walking will prevent many cases of diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic diseases. Walking is the simplest, easiest way for most people."

They Walk the Walk - Wearing a Pedometer

This emphasis on exercise for prevention of the national epidemic of obesity comes from the top. President George W. Bush leads by example, exercising each day and expecting his administration members to do the same. Carmona's boss, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, walks the walk by wearing a pedometer and logging 10,000 steps a day. He has also given out over 500 pedometers. Carmona related a story of them attending a conference and being at only 3000 steps for the day, so they sent away the government car and walked back to their hotel.

"There is no pathway to take but prevention," Carmona says about skyrocketing health care costs - which would be reduced by up to 1/3 if people got the recommended daily allowance of 30 minutes or more of exercise. He has made prevention his framework for action as Surgeon General. Carmona was fresh from the "Steps to a HealthierUS: Putting Prevention First" summit in Baltimore, which laid out priorities for prevention and promoting healthy environments.

Fat Kids - Sick Adults - High Health Care Costs

The epidemic of childhood obesity and childhood diabetes is especially alarming to Carmona. He sees many of these obese children facing a dysfunctional middle age rife with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, high health care costs straining the medical system, and early deaths. Exercise is the key to prevention for childhood obesity.

Sadly, Carmona noted the lack of reporters at the conference. "If I were speaking at the Oregon Health Sciences University on trauma and gunshot wounds, the room would be packed with reporters." But with inactivity leading millions of Americans to early death and disability, the only reporters were from the "Perils for Pedestrians" cable TV show and from Walking.about.com.

Surgeon General Carmona

He's a high school dropout from Harlem who went on to become a registered nurse, police officer, trauma surgeon, health system administrator, Vice Admiral, and the Surgeon General of the United States. Richard H. Carmona took an unusual path that should inspire anyone who had trouble finding themselves in their youth. He was a surprise choice (especially to himself and his friends) as Surgeon General because he lacks any political or personal connections to the Bush Administration. His rise from the streets began by enlisting in the US Army and serving with honor as a medic in Vietnam, leading to a career in the Special Forces and the beginning of his medical career. He was the first member of his immigrant family to attend college.