Cerner Middle East Launches Active Lifestyle Campaign In Support of ‘Start Walking Initiative'

DUBAI, U.A.E. October 27 2013: Hundreds of Cerner Middle East employees swapped the elevator for the building stairs and walked around their office square to support ICLDC's Start Walking initiative.

The first “Take the Stairs Day” & “Walk for 20 Minutes daily” initiatives took place in Cerner's Dubai office in Knowledge Village and since then their Qatar, KSA and Egypt offices have joined the campaign with more than 100 employees tracking their steps and calories daily. The teams across their regional offices meet up twice a day to walk and take the stairs and spread the message of healthy lifestyle.

Cerner's campaign was launched in response to and in support of ICLDC's Start Walking nationwide grass roots initiative from ‘Diabetes-Knowledge-Action', the public health awareness campaign under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak.

“We are happy to partner with the Start Walking campaign which syncs well with Cerner's aim to keep the community proactively healthy. Our campaign has no end-date and our employees are now organising their own mini-walks and take-the-stairs daily activities driven by their desire to be more active and spread the healthy lifestyle message,” said Mike Pomerance, Vice President and Managing Director, Cerner Middle East & Africa.

“Walking briskly or taking the stairs at work is just one of many smart and simple ways to maintain a healthier lifestyle that we encourage Cerner Middle East staff to do. Our work is part of our life so adding an exercise to our daily routine will make it easier to achieve the 20-30 minutes of moderate physical activity recommended every day,” he added.

Organised by Imperial College London Diabetes Centre and powered by ActiveLife from Daman, Start Walking will run a collection of mini-walks and activities leading up to the annual Walk 2013 walkathon at YAS Marina Circuit on November 15, the day after World Diabetes Day.

In an effort to prepare Cerner's staff participating in the walkathon next month, the Start Walking team mapped out a route in Cerner's office with stickers on the floor for the staff to follow during the month of October. Using a Fitbit, a device worn to wirelessly monitor and update steps, Cerner's staff will track their calories burned and weight lost.

Diabetes-Knowledge-Action is set to host the annual walkathon, Walk 2013, supported by the National Health Insurance Company - Daman at YAS Marina Circuit on November 15. More than 17,000 are expected to take part.  Log on to www.diabetesuae.aeto register.