At 9 a.m. sharp on Saturday, Dr. Alina Urriola stood by Lynnwood’s Meadowdale Middle School wearing a tracksuit, neon sneakers and a broad smile.

Together with Verdant Health Commission and the Latino Educational Training Institute (LETI), Urriola set out on her first monthly walk to promote active lifestyles and preventive care among the Latino community. 

Only a couple people were on time. One of them, Monica Palomino, said she had been an ambassador for the event and sent messages on Whatsapp, Facebook and called community members. 

The group grew to nine women, aged between 40 to 80, and Urriola’s eyes lit up as she hugged and welcomed each of the new arrivals into a years-long vision to promote health outside of her office. Some of them were already her patients, others she met at community events, and some were fresh faces altogether.

Urriola, originally from Panama, said the prevalence of diabetes is very high among the Latino community, probably due to a mix of both genetics and lifestyle. Yet, she found getting patients to exercise difficult. 

Several years ago, she heard of Walk With A Doc, an international nonprofit dedicated to getting people to lead more active lifestyles by having community walks with a doctor. Almost two decades ago, Dr. David Sabgir created the program in Columbus, Ohio. Now, over 500 doctors lead periodic gatherings in 48 states and 40 countries.

That approach struck a chord with Urriola. She thought that if exercise became a social activity, Latinos would want to be part of it.

She also wondered how meeting outside of a clinical setting could change the conversation about health. 

“In the office, I run the agenda. It’s on my terms. I am the host. You’re the guest. So there’s a differential power there,” she said. “Outside, we are equalized.”

While volunteering with health nonprofit Lahai health, Urriola was told organizing the event with Verdant would bring more resources and make the event a success. At Lynnwood’s Afro-Latino festival in July, Urriola approached Verdant’s booth.

Verdant and the Latino Educational Training Institute spread the word and coordinated with the Edmonds School District to hold the walk at Meadowdale Middle School. 

Before leading the group on a walk around the school’s track, Urriola told them about her vision. 

“First, I thought, I want to be a family doctor and treat all people,” she said in Spanish. “Then I realized that prevention is the best that I can do to promote health.”

She said that she could not give personalized health advice and would not promote any brand during these walking sessions. 

“I want us to meet every month. But this is not my event, it is our event,” she said. “So if you pressure me, we’ll come here every weekend!”

She emphasized that she will accept suggestions for what topics to talk about during the walk. 

Urriola cut short her talking time and asked the group about the benefits of walking to “give them the power to be a participant in the dialogue.”

The group discussed the importance of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, often called “good cholesterol,” which can only be increased through exercise. 

During the walk, participants talked about menopause, the importance of weight lifting for women and where to get vaccinated, exchanging tips and life stories.

One of the walkers, Betty Palomino, spoke of how menopause had disrupted her health in an unexpected way. She had to ping pong from doctor to doctor before finding a specialist. She told the other walkers that she’s happy to refer her doctor to anyone who needs it.

Urriola listened in, occasionally providing deeper insights into the group’s lived knowledge. 

“People have their own wisdom and I respect that,” Urriola said. “As much as I want to talk. I also want to hear from them.”

After a few laps around the track, Urriola wanted to illustrate what moderate exercise meant. 

“OK, now we want to do moderate exercise, which means we should be able to talk but not sing,” Urriola said to the group of women in Spanish. “What song do we all know?” 

The group settled on singing happy birthday in English, as many variations of the song exist in Spanish. 

Karina Gasperin, team lead at Well Being Youth & Family Center and executive director of the Afro-Latino Festival, jogged in pink leggings. 

She said she came to network with the community. “I know many of the attendees,” she added. 

Gasperin said the event was off to a good start with nine attendees during its first session. According to her, many community programs fail because of a lack of community outreach. 

“I like that it’s going to be a recurring monthly event,” she said. “We’ll be able to spread the word.” 

It is also important to look at barriers, like a lack of transportation, to understand what might be stopping some from participating, Gasperin said. 

She observed no men had joined, but she knew they could be a harder-to-reach audience. 

Urriola also noticed the absence. “I’m a little hurt that no men came. Sometimes men are excluded from prevention programs because men are taken care of by women,” Urriola said. “But I’d like men to take care of themselves, and I hope we do get more men next time.”

Still, the all-woman group had made it easier to talk about women’s health. 

After the walk, LETI Childcare Support Specialist and Tutor Samantha Avendaño said future publicity would be more explicit. Anyone, including children, dogs and even husbands were welcome. 

Urriola said the next event would occur toward the end of October and asked around to ensure she had everyone’s information to make a Facebook group. 

“When is it happening again, Doc?” “We’ll see you next time, we promise!” members of the group told Urriola as they waved goodbye. 

Urriola said she hoped a few more people would come next time, adding she would come prepared with QR codes with recipes and more information to share with the group.

— Story and photos by Aina de Lapparent Alvarez