AARP Hearing Center
Pedestrians gathered for the monthly Walk with a Doc event in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
AARP
Volunteers from AARP North Carolina organized and continue to host Walk with a Doc, a community-based health and wellness program that invites pedestrians to gather at a local park (or shopping mall in inclement weather) to walk and talk with a local physician.
Created in 2005 by David Sabgir, a Columbus, Ohio, cardiologist, the Walk With a Doc initiative "initially aimed at helping patients get more physical activity."
Today, the program is implemented by volunteer-led chapters nationwide (many assisted by AARP) and provides people with “the opportunity to build friendships within the community, spend time in nature, and receive free health education in a relaxed setting" as an "all-in-one ‘prescription’ for better health.”
The monthly Winston-Salem based event features a 1.4 mile, roughly two-hour walk with a local physician invited by the Twin City Medical Society.
AARP volunteer Carol Hoover praises both the program and being able to live in a place where older pedestrians, especially, can go for a walk. "The older our generation gets, the more active we want to be," she says. "The best way to be healthy, and the easiest way to be healthy, is to slap on a pair of tennis shoes, walk out your front door and be able to walk safely wherever you want to walk."
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Page published May 2025
