Valley West Medical Center issued the following announcement on July 5.
Northwestern Medicine finished sixth place in the annual Bike to Work Challenge, organized by the Active Transportation Alliance (ATA).
The Bike to Work Challenge, which took place from Friday, June 15 to Saturday, June 30, is an annual two-week long biking celebration that consisted of 276 teams, including 240 organizations this year. Northwestern Medicine’s team had more than 70 members from all across the health system, despite it being the first year participating in the challenge. The team biked a total of 3,122 miles in 543 trips to and from work during the challenge.
The challenge offered four ways to earn points: distance points based on mileage, five points for each trip biked, additional points for using the mobile app and bonus points for various actions, such as logging five days in a row.
In addition to participating in the challenge, Northwestern Medicine participated in a pit stop event with campus partners Northwestern University, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab on Tuesday, June 19 at the downtown campus. The pit stop offered quick bike adjustments, helmet fittings, help with tire pumping and snacks and giveaways, among other resources. A Biker Appreciation Day was held on Friday, June 29, at the hospital garage on Ontario Street where bike racks are available for employees to park their bikes.
Despite the rainy days, Northwestern Medicine had an active team. One of those members, Brit Holmberg, a social worker at Stone Mental Health Center, said that he bikes for a combination of three reasons. “First, it’s great exercise,” Holmberg said. “Second, it’s a good way for me to get centered before I go into work. And third, it’s actually the quickest and easiest way for me to get to work.” Holmberg, who lives in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood, said that he has the prettiest commute in the country, riding along Lake Michigan.
The participants of the 2018 Bike to Work Challenge biked a combined 136,859 miles, saved 134,122 pounds of carbon dioxide and burned 6,706,114 calories.
To learn more about the ATA’s Bike to Work Challenge please visit http://bikecommuterchallenge.org*.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Valley West Medical Center
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