The Walk to Work Promotion has been a partnership with the Wimmera Primary Care Partnership involving an expansion of the National 'Walk to Work' Day concept delivered by the Pedestrian Council of Australia to a series of regular Walk to Work breakfasts in Horsham.

Evaluation of the Walk It. At Work! program and Walk to Work program identified the need to consistantly deliver a message and provide opportunities for participation. Through the regular breakfasts and promotion in local media and direct to Horsham businesses it is hoped to encourage sustained behaviour change that can lead to improved health and wellbeing for Horsham residents.

Outcomes so far from the promotion have been mixed with varying attendance levels at breakfasts with a particular decline in the winter period when days were shorter and weather cold. The promotion in 2006 has culminated in Walktober- an initiatve to promote the month of October as a month for being active with National Walk to Work day, Ride to Work day, Walk to School Week and other activities all taking place this month.

The Horsham Walk to Work initiative has hosted breakfasts each Friday of the month to sustain the message of healthy and active lifestyles and encourage a change of behaviour over that period.

Case Study Two

Providing an up to date, accessible and user friendly source of information on opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity in the region has been a goal the PICSAR program has shared with the Sports Assembly and other partner organisation for some time.

Through partnerships with key organisations including Leisure Networks, the Wimmera PCP, Sports Assembly, West Vic Divsion of GPs, Local Government and funded by a variety of sources a project to establish a comprehensive database of physical activity (sport, recreation, fitness, leisure) is underway.

The database has been developed to meet the broad needs and interests of all stakeholders as best possible providing a resource that is of benefit to sporting clubs, participants, the general community, information inter-mediaries and people not yet identified in the region (migrants & new arrivals).

Issues of sustainability and maintenance have been identified and a structure put in place to ensure that the database continues to be an ongoing relevant resource. This has been achieved by sharing the cost of setting up the database and its maintenance across organisations and writing these functions into funding applications and organisational workplans.

Once established online the next key step is to ensure that it is promoted and accessed by users. It is envisioned that these are people or organisations in the Wimmera or outside the region looking to find out what sport and physical activity options are available in the area and that these access the database either directly online or via information intermediaries such as the Sports Assembly or Local Government. Examples of potential users may be people looking to move to the region wanting to know what activities are available and health professionals looking to refer patients or clients to physical activity as part of healthier lifestyles.

Examples of good practice initiatives in the region:

1. WPCP/GPPCP/West Vic Division GP Cert III/IV training.
2. Central Park Tennis Club Tennis for Young Mothers.
3. Horsham Golf Club Come and Try program- social membership and walking program.