UNMC’s team for the NE 150 Challenge celebrated Nebraska’s 150th birthday big time this year by logging 207,237 miles — nearly one-fourth of the total miles recorded for the entire program.
In April, Jayme Nekuda, Ph.D., associate director of human resources, challenged the UNMC community to complete 150,000 miles as part of a statewide celebration of Nebraska’s 150th birthday.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our campus team. We plan to promote the program again in 2018 and encourage continued, as well as even more, participation in incorporating activity into the healthy lifestyles of our students, faculty and staff,” she said.
To encourage more people to move, Ali Khan, M.D., M.P.H., dean of the College of Public Health, challenged the other deans and directors to create their own team for some friendly competition. He made side wagers just to make it interesting.
The winner of that wager is the Munroe-Meyer Institute (MMI), to which Dr. Khan made a significant donation to support MMI’s work with children with developmental disabilities.
“This program made us all winners,” Dr. Khan said. “I hope exercise becomes incorporated into the daily routine of all of our students, staff and faculty. UNMC has a goal to help support the state to become healthier and more equitable and that can start with our own campus leading the way.”
Karoly Mirnics, M.D., Ph.D., MMI director, praised his team of 89 members who logged 34,959 miles and said it was never about the win.
“It’s about becoming healthier and incorporating physical activities in our daily lives. We all won, and we thank Dr. Khan for the gracious message (and donation). He is truly a great friend of MMI and a genuinely nice human being,” he said.
UNMC’s overall team numbered 469 members in the NE 150 Challenge, where 5,109 Nebraskans have logged 869,838 miles. Peter Pellerito, fitness specialist, Center for Healthy Living, kept track of the team’s progress and sent out incentive emails.
Incentives offered to UNMC participants were a free commemorative T-shirt at 75 miles and a medal at 150 miles. Pellerito said shirts of various sizes remain to be picked up by participants who have completed 75 miles.
The statewide challenge continues until the end of the year, so team members can still log additional miles until then.
Congratulations MMI!!!