Dallas doctors challenge patients to 5K race

To raise awareness about diabetes and help prevent it by increasing physical activity, the family physicians of Alera Medical Center challenged their patients to a five-kilometer race at Bachman Lake in Dallas on Oct. 31. More than 300 people came out to participate in the first-ever Doc Run 5K, including race coordinator and TAFP member Chrisette Dharma, M.D., and 60 other area physicians. Other TAFP members at Alera Medical Center are Amina Allaudin, M.D., and Sapna Jaiswal, M.D.

“Working with patients in getting them to better health means showing them that we really believe in them, and can see them set strong goals and achieve something that they might not have ever dreamed they would do,” Dharma says. “As a physician I constantly preach every day about the importance of exercise.  There is no better way to show someone how to be healthy than by example.”

Co-race coordinator James Crouch, vice president of business development at Alera, says the practice staff and physicians have set a goal of their own for next year. They hope to attract 200 doctors and 1,000 patients to the 2010 Doc Run 5K, to be held at the same time and place.