Gov. steps up to physical fitness

LINCOLN — Lee Majors may have been “The Six Million Dollar Man” on TV.

But when it comes to fitness, Gov. Dave Heineman is now a “million-step man.”

The governor joined at least 340 state employees last week in passing the 1-million-step mark as part of the “Walk This Way” employee wellness program that began in July.

But Heineman and those other workers need to step aside when it comes to the program’s most prolific walker.

Renee Tichota, a 50-year-old floor-cleaning specialist at the Nebraska Veterans Home in Norfolk, has walked 3.14 million steps since July.

In the process, the mother of five grown children has lost 40 pounds and weaned herself off medication for high blood pressure.

“I feel like I did when we got married, 27 years ago,” Tichota said.

She and her husband, Ken, an inspector for the State Department of Agriculture, stepped up their physical activity and changed their eating habits after noticing how they had let their fitness go while dining on fast-food and concession-stand meals while raising their kids.

Now they work out almost nightly and walk six to 10 miles every other evening on the Cowboy Trail, a hiking-biking trail that begins in Norfolk.

Ken Tichota has lost 70 pounds, has fewer problems with arthritis in his knees and has weaned himself off heart medication.

Renee said some people call her “skinny” now.

“It keeps you going when people notice and compliment you,” she said.

She is the only state worker, as of Wednesday, who had passed the 3 million-step mark, which is about 1,200 miles.

Under the wellness program, state employees can qualify for the lowest-cost state health insurance plan if they agree to undertake certain wellness steps. One is walking at least 360,000 steps by March.

Nearly 1,200 of the 2,856 employees in the plan have already stepped past that mark. The program’s goal is to keep health-care costs down and improve the health and lifestyles of state workers.

Heineman said he has stepped up his walking after joining the program and will sometimes answer phone calls at night while walking around the jogging path behind the Governor’s Mansion to get more steps in.

You get a little competitive, he said, when you wear a pedometer and realize how many steps you take in a day.

“If you’re really going to ask state employees to do it, you’ve got to lead by example,” Heineman said.

Nebraska is believed to be the first state to adopt such a wellness program, according to Mike Wanetka, the program coordinator.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com

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