by Rachel Hunter
Walk with a Doc in Gouverneur was held at the Gouverneur and St. Lawrence County Fairgrounds on Saturday, September 13 with 10 persons in attendance.
Walk with a Doc in Gouverneur was sponsored by the Community Health Center of the North Country in partnership with the St. Lawrence County Public Health Department, St. Lawrence Health Initiative, Inc., STLC Bridge2Wellness, and with the support of the Gouverneur and St. Lawrence County Fair Association, and the Gouverneur Central School District. Walk With a Doc is a local chapter of an international 501(c)3.
Participants were warmly welcomed by Raymond Babowicz, Director of Communications and Strategic Partnerships at the Community Health Center of the North Country, whose presence set a tone of hospitality and purpose. As the group embarked on the half-mile walk around the fairgrounds track, conversations flowed easily with the Community Health Center of the North Country in Gouverneur’s Dr. Donald C. Schuessler, Jr. Pediatrician, and Brittany Terpstra, Physician Assistant. Each step became a moment of shared insight, encouragement, and community care—reminding everyone that wellness begins with connection.
Did you know? Walk with a Doc was started in 2005 by Dr. David Sabgir, a cardiologist in Columbus, Ohio. Frustrated with his inability to affect behavior change in the clinical setting, Dr. Sabgir invited his patients to go for a walk with him in a local park on a spring Saturday morning. To his surprise, over 100 people showed up, energized and ready to move. Since that first event in 2005, Walk with a Doc has grown as a grassroots effort with a model based on sustainability and simplicity. A doctor gives a brief presentation on a health topic and then leads participants on a walk at their own pace. In 2009, Walk With A Doc became an official 501(c)3 and added an Executive Director with a focus on building a program that could easily be implemented by interested doctors in other cities around the country. As a result of these efforts, the reach of Walk with a Doc now extends all around the globe with over 500 chapters worldwide, including Walk with a FUTURE Doc chapters led by medical students. Walking was recognized by the Surgeon General of the United States of America as one of the single most important things we can do for our health.
All North Country residents are encouraged to join future Walk With A Doc events in St. Lawrence County. The next event in Gouverneur is scheduled to be held on Saturday, January 10, 2026 at the Gouverneur Middle School, Wilson St., Gouverneur. Details on upcoming events will be reported as information is made available to the Gouverneur Tribune Press. For more information about Walk With A Doc, visit www.walkwithadoc.org or call CHCNC’s Raymond Babowicz at 315-713-9369.