Updated: 01/19/2011 06:32:37 PM PST

Lucy Mackuse has a vision to get Los Angeles County moving, one YMCA at a time.

“We want to be in the forefront of the prevention of child obesity, prevention of diabetes, prevention of heart disease,” said Mackuse, operations executive director for the San Pedro & Peninsula, Gardena-Carson and Wilmington YMCAs. “We should be partnering with our community and making sure that we fight this and that we help people understand what healthy lifestyle means.”

Mackuse is part of a team spearheading Southern California’s first “Get Moving” campaign, a YMCA initiative Mackuse began while she was in South Florida.

The yearlong “Get Moving South Bay” program began Jan. 6 with events at the Gardena and San Pedro YMCA locations. There were walks at both sites, as well as chefs preparing healthy foods and consultations from health professionals, including a pulmonary specialist and a massage therapist.

Julie Turner Tisue, executive director of the San Pedro & Peninsula YMCA, said “Get Moving” is designed for people who do not already integrate athletics into their schedules.

“Get Moving’s” specific goal is to get people moving 10,000 steps a day, which translates into 30 minutes of exercise.

Participants are encouraged to wear a pedometer to track steps during daily activities such as walking to and from their car and taking the stairs instead of the elevator, along with any planned exercise.

“The Y has always been focused on helping our community be healthier. But this is the first time we’ve really taken this larger, all-coordinated effort to work on community health,” Tisue said.

“With the state of health care today, and the costs associated with being sick, and the reality that a lot of our illnesses stem from behaviors that we can change – you could throw all the health care dollars in the world at people but if they don’t start moving more and making better healthy eating choices, it will never be enough money,” she said. “We have to lower the rate of obesity in our communities.”

“Get Moving South Bay” was spurred by research showing that the largest health problems in Los Angeles County include heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer and depression.

Mackuse said studies have indicated that 50 percent of all diseases are preventable through a modified lifestyle, and regular exercise has been proven to reduce the risks of heart disease, cancer and respiratory disease, among others.

A study conducted by the University of Tennessee found that middle-aged women who take at least 10,000 steps per day are more likely to have healthy body weight and body fat percentages, which reduces risk for obesity, heart disease and other illnesses.

Participants in the “Get Moving” kickoff were given initial consultations and personalized workout recommendations. But Mackuse said the day was only the beginning of a much longer commitment to motivate the South Bay.

New YMCA members are being programmed into the Y’s FitLinxx system, a program that will track the progress of each participant throughout 2011. FitLinxx is designed to motivate users by marking certain fitness goals.

“This initiative … is really in line with our focus of community health, or building a healthier community, and social responsibility,” Mackuse said.

“There isn’t a bigger mission that the Y could have – and a more important mission that the Y could have – than helping our communities become healthier.”

Shanley Knox is a freelance writer.

Article derived from The Daily Breeze