Partners of the Plan News:
Shopping Mall's Indoor Track Encourages Physical Activity

In Grays Harbor County, partners have made it easier for community members to be physically active by setting up signs for an indoor track in a shopping mall. Grays Harbor Public Health & Social Services made an informal joint use agreement with GGP (General Growth Properties) which manages SouthShore Mall in Aberdeen. Public health specialists worked with mall management to produce promotional materials, indoor signs, and even a mileage tracker booklet for walkers. Grays Harbor Public Health launched this project in January 2011 as part of their Healthy Communities Workgroup.

The full indoor perimeter of the mall corridors adds up to just over a half mile, and walkers can complete five and a half miles with ten laps. Walkers are welcome during all of the open hours of the mall. The mall even opens at 7am to accommodate walkers.

Wilma Weber is a Public Health Educator with Grays Harbor Public Health. She says that “although people have used the mall as a safe walking place for years, it was never officially named as an indoor walking track.  I know every time I go to the mall now I witness people intentionally walking the ‘track.’” Weber hears from mall employees that walking traffic remained consistent throughout the year.  She goes on to say, “Grays Harbor statistics are pretty bleak regarding physical activity. I believe that many people would like to be more physically active but they can’t afford to join a gym, or they don’t feel safe walking along dark streets. Being able to get free exercise at the mall overcomes some of these barriers to their physical activity.”

Resources

• SouthShore Mall Indoor Track Brochure (pdf)
• Mile Tracker Booklet (pdf)
• Healthy Grays Harbor website
• Health Education Resource Exhange (HERE) article on the indoor track
  

 

Featured: December 2011

Plan Objectives Addressed

• Access to Low Cost Recreational Activity
  
  
• More articles on this topic

Target Audience

Planners, Shopping Mall Managers, Local Health Jurisdictions

Region

Statewide