As health professionals, we know how important it is for our patients to be physically active. After all, physical activity is known to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such heart disease and diabetes. It also improves mental health and provides some relief from arthritis. But we also know that many people have difficulty finding the time to get the levels of physically activity needed to maintain good health. Studies bear this out; the number one barrier to physical activity is time. This is particularly true for women with young children. This is where active modes of transportation (such as walking and cycling) and transit use come in. Research has demonstrated that many people can fold physical activity into their lives if they combine it with other activities such as errands, commuting to work, or taking the kids to school.
As health professionals, we are well positioned to encourage our patients to think about active transportation as a way to get the physical activity they need to stay healthy. When we use the phrase “active transportation”, we mean any activity used to get people from one destination to another that involves physical activity. It can include skate boarding or in-line skating, but usually involves walking or cycling. When we use the phrase “active travel”, we are referring to transit use as well as active transportation because many trips on transit begin or end with walking or cycling.
Unfortunately, many communities across Canada have not been designed to encourage and foster active modes of transportation or transit. Many were built during a time when it was considered wise to separate homes and schools from workplaces and amenities. This led to communities designed around cars; sprawling neighbourhoods with winding roads and cul-de-sacs separated from shopping malls that grouped all amenities into one place. Experience and research has demonstrated the problem with this thinking. We now understand the need for compact neighbourhoods that have enough people in them to support efficient transit service and attract restaurants, stores, and other services. We know that streets built on a grid encourage people to walk and cycle to nearby amenities. We know that streets lined with sidewalks encourage walking by making it safer and easier to do. And we know that busy streets with separated bike lanes are safer for cyclists and encourage more people to ride their bicycles.
But changing the design of communities and streets can be difficult. Resistance can come from a number of different sources. As health professionals, we can play an important role in community decisions. We can help educate the public and decision-makers about the many health benefits of community and street designs that support and foster a healthy lifestyle.
CAPE has produced a new toolkit—Prescribing Active Travel for Healthy People and a Healthy Planet: A Toolkit for Health Professionals—to help health professionals become advocates of active transportation and transit with their patients and in their communities. The toolkit is designed with five stand-alone modules so people can focus on the ones of most interest to them. Module 1 describes the health, environmental and social benefits of active travel. Module 2 provides strategies to motivate patients to use active travel. Module 3 explains the links between active transportation and community design. Module 4, designed for health professionals in southern Ontario, focuses on Ontario’s Growth Plan and how it impacts active travel. Module 5 provides strategies for promoting change in one’s community. The toolkit also includes two factsheets and brochures that health professionals can give to their patients, two backgrounders that can be used in meetings with the public or decision-makers, and a series of memes that can be used on Twitter or Facebook to make people think about the many benefits of walking, cycling, and transit for society as a whole.
The toolkit and its various supporting documents can be found at https://cape.ca/active-travel-toolkit/
Prepared by Kim Perrotta, Executive Director, CAPE, March 20, 2017