South Australia's Premier Peter Malinauskas and Minister for Health and Wellbeing Chris Picton ran alongside RACGP President Dr Michael Wright and South Australia Chair Dr Sian Goodson in the Nantu Wama parkrun in North Adelaide this morning.
The Royal Australian College of GPs partnered with non-profit parkrun Australia to support GPs across the nation in tackling rising chronic illness.
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright said: "The RACGP partnered with parkrun Australia to encourage social prescribing – a powerful tool GPs can use to encourage patients to take up activities to improve their health and wellbeing.
"There was great success when the UK Royal College of GPs partnered with parkrun, over 1,500 practices signed up. Studies found the free community initiative is effective at attracting people who aren't usually drawn to exercise.
"In Australia, where more than half of the population is living with one or more chronic condition, social prescribing activities like parkrun can make a big difference. And I encourage practices in Adelaide and around Australia to sign up to become a parkrun practice."
parkrun Australia supports communities to deliver free socially-focused 5km events each Saturday morning in 450 locations across Australia. Participants of all fitness levels can walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate.
South Australia Chair Dr Sian Goodson said: "I want to thank Premier Peter Malinauskas and Minister for Health and Wellbeing Chris Picton for joining us for parkrun this morning to see how beneficial this free program is.
"Preventive activities are core work in general practice, and it's what helps patients live healthier and longer. It's not just about encouraging people to be more active, social activities like parkrun are also hugely beneficial for people with anxiety and loneliness.
"It can make a huge difference in peoples' lives – and long term, it can help keep them out of hospital. There are 6 parkrun practices in Adelaide so far, and I'd love to see more signing up here, and across South Australia."
General practices can register to become a parkrun practice on the RACGP website. Practices and patients can also get involved in Healthy Habits, which helps patients to set achievable physical activity, nutrition and sleep health goals and supports GPs and Primary Care Nurses to review and celebrate patient progress via a patient app.
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