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Cancer Bridges offers motivational ‘Happy Feet’ wellness program

By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 4 min read
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Motivation tends to wane for practically everyone during the winter, let alone people with serious health problems.

Starting Jan. 23, the Pittsburgh nonprofit Cancer Bridges is offering a free online program called “Happy Feet: A Wellness Community.” The purpose is to promote good mental and physical health among those who are undergoing cancer treatment, contending with post-treatment issues or suffering from metastatic conditions, along with their caregivers and other support people.

Kathryn Schmitz’s book introduces a 21-day program of strength training and exercise for cancer prevention and recovery.

The primary focus is moving, feet and otherwise.

“Everybody sort of has different levels of ability at this point. Some people may be hampered by surgeries, or some folks can’t walk,” said Jennifer Kehm of Peters Township, Cancer Bridges development and program coordinator. “So we don’t measure steps, but we measure minutes of movement, which is really important.”

As such, participants are encouraged to set a “Minutes of Movement” goal for each week

The seven-week program features a series of Sunday speakers, starting with Kathryn Schmitz, an exercise oncology researcher and professor of public health sciences at Penn State College of Medicine. Her recently published book, “Moving Through Cancer: An Exercise and Strength-Training Program for the Fight of Your Life,” is at the center of her campaign to have doctors prescribe exercise to cancer patients as common practice by 2029.

Happy Feet speakers

Each Sunday at 7 p.m. on Zoom, guest speakers will focus on aspects of the Happy Feet program’s “pillars of wellness”: movement, sleep, nutrition, stress, spirituality, connections and environment.

• Jan. 23: Kathryn Schmitz will speak about her book, “Moving Through Cancer: An Exercise and Strength-Training Program for the Fight of Your Life.”

• Jan. 30: Lifestyle dietitian Angela Zaccagnini addresses “Better Nutrition to Beat the Blues and Add Energy.”

• Feb. 6: “How to Improve Sleep While Living with Cancer” will be presented by Marissa Evans, a clinical-health psychology doctoral candidate at the University of Pittsburgh who specializes in behavioral sleep medicine and psycho-oncology.

• Feb. 13: Dorothy Clear, author of “Restore Order, Restore Joy: How to Get Your Life in Order After a Loss,” provides information on “creating some order in your home, even during a stressful time.”

• Feb. 20: Carol M. Greco, licensed psychologist and associate professor of psychiatry in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, will speak about “Calming the Body and Mind.”

• Feb. 27: “Managing Connections and Relationships” is the topic of Wendy Myers, co-clinical director at Cancer Bridges.

• March 6: Holly Lassila presents “Finding Purpose after a Diagnosis.” She is hospice clinical pharmacist and associate professor of clinical, social and administrative science at the Mylan School of Pharmacy at Duquesne University.

For participants who complete the program, a celebration is scheduled for March 13.

“You should be moving, no matter where you are,” Kehm said about Schmitz’s contention. “For instance, even if you were just diagnosed, if you begin to exercise, it will help you get through surgery better. It will help you get through chemotherapy better, radiation.

“And that’s a paradigm shift from before. Doctors would tell people to rest and just relax, and take it easy,” she said. “So it is hard to get people to recognize that if their muscle strength is better, if their overall wellness is better, they can endure things better.”

The “community” aspect of Happy Feet includes a private group page as part of Cancer Bridges’ website.

“People can share their stories and talk about if they’ve had a good day and they were able to walk or do chair yoga, or if they just couldn’t get out of bed today and they don’t know what to do,” Kehm said. “We can try to address that.”

Also, Zoom check-ins take place at 12 p.m. Tuesdays and 5 p.m. Thursdays for discussion and connection.

The program was offered in the winter of 2021, drawing about 50 participants.

“The really cool thing that happened last year was watching them motivate each other,” Kehm rcalled. “Some of them had really dire situations, but they were doing it.”

She emphasized that rather than serving as “a hardcore exercise program,” Happy Feet is about creating awareness about the benefits of movement while providing a support system of people in similar situations.

“You just don’t feel as alone,” she said. “Really, that’s the bottom line.”

Happy Feet is open to all adult Cancer Bridges members, who can register by Jan. 19 at www.cancerbridges.org/calendar. To join Cancer Bridges, which is free, visit www.cancerbridges.org/become-a-member. And for more information, email Jennifer Kehm at jen@cancerbridges.org.

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