Lerner Center adds Monday Mile walking loop around St. Joseph’s

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A group of employees at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center on Monday participated in a noon-hour walk in a designated area around the hospital’s campus and its surrounding neighborhood.

The “Monday Mile” loop around St. Joseph’s joins 14 similar pathways near Syracuse City Hall, the Near West Side, and on the Syracuse University (SU) campus, SU said in a news release.

The St. Joseph’s trail winds its way through North Side neighborhoods and the business district along North Salina Street.

The Monday Mile is a way to help people “kick start” their fitness for the week, Thomas Dennison, director of the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion, said while speaking to reporters outside St. Joseph’s on Monday.

Dennison is also a professor of public administration at SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

“It’s a structured opportunity for people to take some time out of their day using Monday as the day that many people decide to go on a diet or begin exercising,” said Dennison.

If people start exercising, perhaps they’ll stick with it for the whole week and the rest of their lives, he added.

Each trail is designated with a sign, Dennison said.

The “Monday Mile” is part of Healthy Mondays, an initiative of the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion at SU’s Maxwell School.

The Healthy Mondays effort is focused on creating healthy communities and reducing the burden of chronic disease by getting people active, helping them eat healthier, and learn strategies to better manage stress.

The Lerner Center has a mission “to improve the health of the community through service, research, education, advocacy, and policy,” according to the SU news release.

The center works in partnership with organizations across campus and in the community to implement the Healthy Mondays campaign.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com