Carilion's new program is called Physicians on Foot. About 25 doctors have volunteered so far.

Photos by SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

Striving to set a good example for patients and the public, participants in Carilion's Physicians on Foot walking program hit the Roanoke River Greenway on Saturday morning.

It's one thing when your doctor tells you to get more exercise.

It's quite another when the doctor is right on your heels, stride-for-stride, during a 2-mile walk on the Roanoke River Greenway.

That's the idea behind Physicians on Foot, a new walking program sponsored by Carilion Clinic.

Every Saturday morning starting at 8:30, a Carilion doctor will trade a white coat for walking shoes and lead a hike along the greenway, starting just across the street from Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

"We're setting examples for them [patients] instead of just telling them what to do," said Dr. Beth Polk, a family practitioner from Carilion's Daleville clinic who came up with the idea. "This is an opportunity to put our tennis shoes where our mouth is."

Less than a month old, the program is catching on.

About 25 people gathered Saturday to join Dr. Christy Arthur, who completed the walk pushing a stroller that held her 7-month-old twins, Adam and Ryan.

Arthur can talk the talk: Regular walking is a good form of moderate exercise that can improve cardiovascular health, ward off chronic disease and reduce stress.

But by walking the walk, "it lends credibility to what we're saying," she said.

After the group had walked from Roanoke Memorial to Smith Park and back, a round-trip of just less than 2 miles, Kathie Jacoby of Roanoke was just getting warmed up. Walking in place, she stopped long enough to say that she's lost 80 pounds since October, thanks to a daily walking regimen.

Although Jacoby came out on her own after learning about the program from a newspaper advertisement, she likes the idea of having doctors lead the way.

"I don't like it when people talk and they don't do," Jacoby said.

Carilion is promoting the program through its primary care and internal medicine programs, while also encouraging the general public to join the walks. About 25 doctors have volunteered so far, Polk said.

The program will continue for the next few months, with varying routes and lengths, before moving inside Tanglewood Mall during the winter.

For Roxana Navab, who walked Saturday, part of the attraction is making a solitary form of exercise more social.

"I think people are motivated when they are in a group setting," she said.