June 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 53

friends. This evolved into exercising
and eating better. She even wanted to
be with her friends more. She just felt
better overall. "
Dr. Sabgir sees the " greatest resilience " among his patients that walk
in parks. " Parks make the immediate
rewards of exercise real and provide
an obvious significant added benefit.
The participants at WWAD leave the
park holding their head much higher
and their smiles are much wider than
when they arrived. " Patients who
visit parks regularly " live a much
higher quality of life, " he says. " The
beauty of parks is that there is such
incredible motivation to move. For
exercise to be a realistic alternative
to the couch, it has to be enjoyable. "
In addition to the beauty that parks
provide, parks can also help support
these programs. " I found that our
park was excited to have the visitors
and parks around the country have
provided many wonderful, useful services to our group. "
Seize the Opportunity
As the health benefits of parks become more well-known and chronic
diseases continue to rise, the medical community will turn to parks as
a safe, accessible and affordable way
to get patients healthy right in their
backyard. " For patients, the thought
of going to the gym is very intimidating, " says Pere. " There's also a
cost factor, which can be a barrier for
certain income levels. Physicians may
not realize that some of their patients
lack resources to do the basic things.
That's where parks fit in. Helping patients understand what resources have
in the neighborhood is important. If
it's familiar to them, they will do it. "
Now is the time for parks to reach
out to partner with healthcare providers. It's a collaboration that has
not only improved people's health,
but has also led to greater awareness

Park Rx programs can not only benefit adults, but are a great family activity that can get
children started on the path to a healthy lifestyle.

of parks in the community, more
users in the parks and improved access to parks. " From a physician's
standpoint, we love to partner with
the community and come to the
table to feel like we're part of the
community, " says Dr. Forster. Dr.
Sabgir predicts that this relationship will continue. " I think that the
physician 'buy-in' will be increasing
exponentially in the coming years, "
he says. " We've witnessed first-hand
the incredible synergy that can come
from these relationships. From our
experience, we expect park systems

will be met with excitement and
gratitude as they reach out to healthcare providers and hospital systems.
There are many providers out there
that would love to be involved in
physical activity in their local park,
but aren't quite sure how. These are
sparks waiting to fly. "
Richard J. Dolesh, NRPA's vice president of conservation and parks, contributed to this article.
Zarnaaz Bashir, MPH, is NRPA's Vice
President of Health and Wellness
(zbashir@nrpa.org).

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Parks & Recreation

June 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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