Worcester initiative seeks to make city healthier

Lunch hour walks from Worcester City Hall have become more organized and interesting thanks to a new citywide physical activity initiative.

“WOO Moves” provides employees with walking routes marked by a sneaker icon that start behind City Hall. Signage tells employees how far they have progressed and provides information about landmarks along the way.

In order to gain access to the information, employees scan a QR code on the sneaker icons with a smartphone, or they can go online and print out a map with facts about the routes.

The new program is just one of the many efforts the city is making to promote employee health and wellness, according to Pamela Callahan, coordinator of training in the city’s human resource department. The efforts are part of a bigger goal, which is to make Worcester the healthiest city in New England by 2020, Callahan said.

The WOO Moves idea came from a response to an employee survey sent out by the Employee Wellness Advisory Committee, which suggested measured markers for walking routes around City Hall.

The city teamed up with MassInMotion, which funded the sneaker icons used as markers, and Preservation Worcester, which provided historical and architectural information about landmarks along the routes, Callahan said.

Launched in late August, the program now has four walking routes marked with sneaker icons, with distances ranging from four-tenths of a mile walk to a 2.6-mile loop.

Callahan said the program is looking to expand its walking routes in the near future and to use some of the city’s “dead space” to provide quick workout routines. It’s also looking to expand the number of participants, hoping that the sneaker icon will be a recognized symbol of physical exercise to all residents and people who work in the city.