Have you ever walked to the grocery store a few blocks down the street and thought to yourself, “I wish there was a streetlamp here”, or “I wish that the crosswalk light would last a little longer so I could comfortably make it to the other side…”? If so, it sounds like you may have performed a walk audit!
Walk audits are trips we take around our communities to measure the walkability and/or bikeability of our streets. They are great tools for bringing community members together to find ways to make improvements to our built environment. Walk audits can be as informal as a few neighbors getting together and walking down the road, or can be as formal as hosting a community-wide walk audit event where city engineers, planners, and other decision makers are invited to follow along.
Bike Walk Montana will host several walk audits in the month of June, 2020. Thanks to Montana Geriatric Education Center who provided a grant for this project, there will be a twist: the main purpose of this project is to inspire our aging populations to get exercise and to interact positively with their environment! We will invite other community members, such as city planners and engineers, to participate as well. We will lead participants on a “Walk audit” of routes that lead to common destinations such as retail centers, churches, parks, and schools. They will be actively involved by being instructed on how to evaluate and record the positive and challenging aspects of the route they follow.
Along with St. Peter’s Health, and other community partners, through this project Bike Walk Montana will bring awareness to the importance of physical activity/healthy lifestyles as it relates to brain health in aging populations, while simultaneously creating a discussion on walkability and accessibility of public transportation for all community members. As the nation’s aging population continues to rise, the provision of safe and accessible transportation options remains a top concern of older adults, caregivers and communities where they live.
The Walk Audits for Wellness program will include two events outside of the walk audits themselves: one orientation prior to the walk audits, and one gathering after each of the walk audits have been held. For the orientation prior to the walk audit, organizers will distribute information, such as the Alzheimer's Society “United Against Dementia” exercise and physical activity fact sheet, regarding physical activity and its correlation to dementia and other cognitive diseases, as well as Alzheimer's Society “10 Ways to Love Your Brain.”
Following the educational component of the orientation, Bike Walk Montana will provide details of a walk audit, the process for performing a walk audit, and benefits gained by completing walk audits. To conclude the orientation, community members will discuss target routes for areas near retirement facilities that will be audited over the next month. AARP’s Walk Audit Tool Kit will be distributed for every walk audit attendee.
After each walk audit is completed, community members will gather at a coffee shop or other accessible location along the route where participant’s observations will be discussed and compiled. Bike Walk Montana will collect these and compose a Community Improvement Plan from the suggestions. The group will present the plan to City of Helena officials and staff upon completion. Bike Walk Montana will also create a finalized toolkit to be used nationwide, showing the step-by-step process on how to get aging populations actively engaged in their community and increasing walkability, while improving their physical and mental health.
We are so excited to bring this unique project to Montana, and would like to once again thank our partners at Montana Geriatric Education Center for helping make this project a reality. If you have any questions, or want to learn more about the Walk Audits for Wellness project, contact info@bikewalkmontana.org.