New Albany doctor inspiring patients to get up and out

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Dr. David Sabgir takes 20,000 steps a day. That often involves a morning run with friends and a walk with his wife and dogs, but it also includes two to three miles of walking at work.

Sabgir is a career walker. Well, he’s actually a doctor.

Sabgir founded Walk with a Doc in 2005 to encourage patients to follow through with exercise. The program gives people the opportunity to walk with a doctor and ask any questions in a casual setting. The New Albany native started with one walk in Columbus, and has since grown the program to nearly 300 walks around the world.

In 2003, when he completed his fellowship with The Ohio State University, Sabgir began his career as a physician and cardiologist. But he soon found a problem: Roughly 95 percent of his patients failed to get sufficient exercise. No matter what he did or said, patients didn’t seem to listen.

That’s when Sabgir started walking. Then, at the end of 2004, Sabgir asked his patients to walk with him.

“I was really frustrated at what I was doing,” he says. “I just realized that I was not able to get the message across. I wasn’t being an effective communicator, so that was kind of the next step –   the answer.”

Sabgir spent the winter collecting emails of interested patients. Over five months, he collected roughly 800 emails and spread the word about the inaugural walk. He invited patients to come walk with him in a local park, talk in an informal setting and ask questions.

On April 9, 2005, the first walk attracted close to 150 people and multiple TV camera crews.

The popularity of the walks continued, and soon the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association was requesting walks all over the state. But convincing doctors to join a program they’d never heard of proved difficult, especially without connections in those cities. Demand for Walk with a Doc became too much to balance with his practice, and Sabgir shut down the walks in 2006.

However, after only about a year, Sabgir found himself missing the walks, and restarted on a local level.

“I really felt deep in my core that this had to be a part of medicine,” Sabgir says. “It was something that needed to happen and was missing.”

This time, the walks found increased support and resources, picking up coverage from Cooking Light Magazine, validation from the Cleveland Clinic and backing from Anthem.

By improving communication and increasing interactions with doctors, the walks improve relationships and satisfy patients, doctors and larger medical systems all at once.

“Patients are increasing their accountability,” Sabgir says. “They feel empowered and they are welcoming the opportunity to see the doctor, really on a weekly or bi-monthly basis.”

The organization’s success comes in part due to the numerous benefits of walking. Walk with a Doc offers 100 reasons to walk, and Sabgir adds that walking presents few challenges to get started.

“Walking has the least barriers, in my opinion,” he says. “It’s something that most everyone can do, and it’s kind of the path of least resistance.”

Each walk’s doctor will give a brief talk on a health topic before the walk and will speak to walkers throughout the roughly 30-minute event, but Sabgir says it’s not just about health. The sense of community plays a significant role as well.

Sabgir says the groups provide a sense of safety in numbers and encourage participants to stay committed to the program. The walking time is also an opportunity for doctors to get to know their patients.

“The relationships are equally important for me,” he says. “In the office, we’ll see people for 10 to 15 minutes, and to be able to walk with someone for half an hour, 45 minutes or whatever it is, and hear about their family life. It adds so many dimensions to that almost two-dimensional visit.”

Sabgir wasn’t a walker himself before founding Walk with a Doc, though exercise was an important part of his lifestyle. Since starting the organization, he’s become an avid walker, enjoying many of the biking and walking paths around New Albany. Walking as a social activity has become a big part of his life, and a way to connect with the city of New Albany.

“I’m inspired by the people of New Albany every day,” he says. “We’re head over heels about the community.”

Sabgir describes himself as a “homer” and says that making New Albany and Columbus proud inspires him to further Walk with a Doc. In the last few years, he has grown the program to add two full-time employees, and he intends to expand it from hundreds of chapters to thousands.

“We want it to get a lot bigger. We expect it to get a lot bigger,” he says. “The goal has always been to transform the way medicine is practiced in the U.S., and we know that can happen.”

Sabgir says the walks increase communication between doctor and patient, setting both as equals. He sees the walks as increasing patients’ accountability in addition to increasing interaction with doctors.

Under the leadership of Sabgir, Walk with a Doc is looking at ways to collaborate with large organizations that can help spread the program. With 298 chapters, Walk with a Doc spans nine countries.

“Italy just called,” says Rachel Habash, Walk with a Doc’s executive director. “They want to start a walk.”

Walk with a Doc may now have 10 countries, and Sabgir is determined to continue its growth.

Fit Five, with Cameron Carr

What’s your favorite exercise besides walking?

Cycling. You can go for a while outside. Back to the social thing, I’m pretty much always doing it with friends or my wife, who’s my best friend. It’s a way to see new things.

What would be your ideal walk?

Hiking up a mountain, probably. There’s a place called the Incline in Manitou Springs, which is right outside of Colorado Springs, and my son and I love that.

Do you have a favorite healthful recipe?

I love honeycrisp apples. I think it’s probably the sugar content. It’s crazy good.

Are there any foods you try to avoid?

I’m trying this year to avoid doughnuts, because they’re so darn good and I had too many of them last year. Probably fried food, to take a step back. In general, fried food.

What do you like to do to relax?

Honestly, it’s walking. It’s very relaxing to me. Probably spending time with friends and walking.

Cameron Carr is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at adeperro@cityscenemediagroup.com.

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