From Kaiser Permanente California to Kaiser Permanente Georgia, this national health organization is making a serious statement about the important of health and exercise for people of all ages. This is why Kaiser Permanente supported the International Walk to School Day on October 8, 2008. Not only did the organization encourage patients and their families to participate in the event, but physicians and employees all over the nation walked to school with their children and other family members.

Kaiser Permanente participated in the International Walk to School Day to help increase awareness about two important issues regular physical activity and human environmental impact. With people from Kaiser Permanente California to Kaiser Permanente Georgia and all over the world participating, many kids and adults who wouldn't normally get much exercise got their blood moving. And all these people walking also took a lot of pressure off of the environment, if only for one day.

By walking to school, Kaiser Permanente physicians, employees, patients and family members positively affected their communities in many ways, but they also raised some issues that people ought to be considering. While half of all children walked or bicycled to school in 1969, there are fewer than 15 percent of children walking to school now and an estimated 20 to 30 percent of morning traffic is parents driving kids to school. And one thing that doctors from Kaiser Permanente California, Kaiser Permanente Georgia and other areas can agree on is how this may be affecting the rates of childhood obesity that have risen dramatically over 30 years.

If more children walked to school, it is likely that fewer children would be obese and the environment would also benefit. Fewer children would be visiting Kaiser Permanente for weight related health problems. There might even be fewer automobile related accidents to and from school. There's only one way to find out, though take Kaiser's advice and get walking.