Being Well: Sue Campbell, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation

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OKLAHOMA CITY – Sue Campbell has been leading the charge for better health for more than two decades. The accounting clerk at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation began her journey for her own health with daily walks. Over the years she and colleague Janet Sharpe have convinced more than two dozen others to join them for an afternoon trek.

Campbell suffers from chronic back pain and when she was in her mid-40s, her doctor prescribed a daily walking regime to help ease her struggle. When she began walking more than 20 years ago, her husband drove her to the end of the neighborhood. She started small, strolling for about five minutes on soft ground through the greenbelt to the couple’s home a few blocks away.

The couple brought their golden retriever with them to accompany their walks. Eventually they worked up to 30 to 45 minutes of brisk trekking.

The daily exercise worked miracles for her chronic pain, she said. It was good for her husband too, she said. He struggles with cardiovascular disease, so a nightly walk was good for the family, she said.

“I just feel better,” she said. “I feel better psychologically. I’m mentally sharper.”

Campbell eventually transitioned her daily walks to the workplace. Starting from OMRF’s campus, she walks about 1.5 miles by going through the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, across an elevated walkway into the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center’s main building, then returning.

About one year ago, Sharpe started to joined her. Sharpe worked out at OMRF’s on-site fitness center and participated in wellness activities since 2012, but was looking for something different.

Sharpe and Campbell began to recruit several more people in the accounting department. What began as about six people has grown to about 26 in the last year, many of whom attend on a regular basis, Sharpe said.

The group outing is appealing because it’s low-impact and low-pressure. People generally wear sneakers, but don’t change into workout clothes. The group ranges in age from 65-year-olds to some in their late 20s.

She and Campbell can walk 1.5 miles in about half an hour. Some group members had knee surgeries and stroll at a leisurely pace, but no one is pressured to keep up with the fast walkers, Sharpe said.

The daily constitutional helps employees get away from their desks and fairly sedentary jobs, Sharpe said. She’s working toward a specific goal: training for the Memorial Half Marathon in 2016.

Campbell is focused on maintaining her routine and encouraging others to join. Because the route is mostly indoors, it’s easy to keep up the daily exercise, even in inclement weather, she said. Now it’s part of her daily routine, just like brushing her teeth, she said.

“I go to make a habit and let benefits fall where they may,” Campbell said. “It’s not enough to have a plan, you have to have a doable plan, so that is why this works for me.”