About Northeast Oregon Rx Trails

About Northeast Oregon Rx Trails

Mission

The purpose of Northeast Oregon Prescription Trails program is to help community members improve their health by using exercise as medicine, while accessing our beautiful parks and trails. Exercise can improve quality of life and help prevent and treat numerous illnesses/ chronic conditions like diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and depression. We work with highly knowledgeable and qualified providers, who recognize that exercise can in many cases, be just as effective as medication.

How does walking benefit your health? Check out this video from the National Institute on Aging, featuring Dr. Griffin Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P., Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at NIH.

Where did the program start?

The Good Shepherd Education Department, in partnership with the Healthy Communities Coalition, work to continuously identify and address the health concerns of our community. Unfortunately, residents in our area suffer from higher rates of obesity than the state or nation. Obesity and inactivity have strong links to other health issues. We recognized that many of the health issues afflicting our community are interrelated; which led us to an evidence- based, low cost, and highly accessible solution.


Northeast Oregon Prescription Trails is a program based on the “Prescription Trails” program in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This website has utilized the information and framework of the original Prescription Trails website. Prescription Trails New Mexico has offered continual help and support, in allowing us to replicate their program and website, to create a modified version to help our community!

How was the program funded?

Good Shepherd “stepped up” to cover the cost of website and our program prescription pads! The Good Shepherd Education department submitted a grant to the Good Shepherd Community Health Foundation in spring 2018, and received funding for distance signage on select trails. The trail grading was completed by dedicated volunteers, who were passionate about the vision of our program. As the program develops and expands, we will continue to seek funding opportunities and dedicated volunteers, you can reach us through the information on the “contact us” page!

Our Organization

Northeast Oregon Prescription Trails was developed by Good Shepherd Health Care System, in partnership with the Healthy Communities Coalition.

Good Shepherd Healthcare system - http://www.gshealth.org/

Healthy Communities Coalition - http://www.healthycommunitiescoalition.com/

Resources

  1. Trail Assessment Sheet
  2. Paper Walking Log
  3. Patient Information

Contributors:

Thank you to everyone who made this website possible! Special thanks to New Mexico Healthcare Takes On Diabetes and the NM Prescription Trails program for their help in making this program possible. https://prescriptiontrails.org/

Website adaptation and program adaptation - Jaime Crowell, MS

Cataloging trails and compiling supplemental information - Amelia Boyd and Heather Smart

Planning - The Adult Health/Screening and Prevention Sub Committee, Robert Rankin MPH (Umatilla County Public Health), Helena Wolfe MPH (CAPECO), Alissa Daltoso (OSU Extension), Sarah Miller, Corie Ufert, Nick Bejarano (Good Shepherd Health Care System), and Juli Gregory RN (Good Shepherd Education Department)

Initial trail grading - Alissa Daltoso (OSU Extension), Kathy Thomas MPH (Good Shepherd Employee Wellness), Good Shepherd Wellness Committee, Cynthia Sherrow, Jessica McKay(Good Shepherd Education Department), Marisol Mendoza (Good Shepherd Education Department), and Shiloh Fay (Good Shepherd Education Department).

Attribution:

Several open source frameworks were used in the development of this website. Please see this page for information on attribution.