This August AHPs and nurses are going head-to-head in a ‘Get Active’ twitter competition, judged by the Academy of Fab NHS Stuff.The case for increasing physical activity among the general population and the health and care workforce is compelling, but achieving this is far more complex. For many people the reality of knowing how and where to start, and fitting regular exercise into busy work and home lives, can be challenging, and examples of effective campaigns are those that support and inspire realistic, achievable change (#thisgirlcan, I will if you will, Change4Life, parkrun, run mummy run and Couch to 5k).
With this in mind, and our own efforts to become more active, for the last couple of weeks @WeAHPs have been encouraging allied health professionals (AHPs) to tweet photos when they are taking part in physical activity, using the hashtag #AHPsActive. This was linked with a twitter chat on public health and recent blog from @exerciseworks.
We wanted to:
• raise the profile of the importance of peer support and role modelling in physical activity
• practice what we teach/preach as health and care staff
• motivate, inspire and create a sense of community.
We have had some fantastic photos so far, including ice hockey in Finland, the President of the Icelandic Physiotherapy Association up an Icelandic mountain, skateboarding, wall-scaling, mud running and more.
From Saturday 15th to Sunday 30th August we will be building on the success of the past few weeks and holding a competition for AHPs and nurses. We will be asking people to tweet their active photos using #AHPsActive or #NursesActive, with the same aims as above: encouraging fun, creativity and a healthy sense of competition (no pressure for lycra-clad selfies). We will be using some twitter analytics to encourage the AHPs v nurses aspect of the competition but will also award some prizes for the best photos.
We are absolutely delighted that Roy Lilley and Terri Porrett from the @FabNHSStuff team have agreed to judge the competition.
The judging criteria is simple – the judges will be looking for photos and videos that best capture physical activity as something that is accessible, achievable and fun.
The winners will be announced on Tuesday 1st September.
We are keeping things simple with 2 hashtags but everyone is welcome to join in, and you don’t need to be an AHP or nurse to take part (choose your allegiance carefully!), or you can create your own active hashtag – we’ve started to see #teachersactive joining in this week. Keep an eye on @WeAHPs, @WeNurses and wecommunities.org for more information and help us Get Active this August.