24 / matters magazine / summer 2017 C andice Davenport has a mission: Get people to be more active and fit. As Maplewood’s Public Health Nurse and Health Educator, Davenport is alarmed by the national rise in rates of diabetes and obesity. Her response is to promote a model of public health that focuses on being healthy and staying that way. Knowing that our Maplewood parks have walk- ing paths, she surmised that people might walk more if the parks featured signage posting the distance. So she teamed up with township Health Officer Robert Roe in bringing their idea for signage to the Town- ship Committee, which agreed that it would be an excellent outgrowth of Maplewood Loves Wellness, a version of the statewide Mayors Wellness Campaign. With further brainstorming, the decision was made to include historical information to make the parks even more friendly, to give people a sense of place, and to express gratitude to past Maplewood- ians. “We owe thanks to our forebears who had the foresight to leave land open for parks,” Roe explains. “We are the beneficiaries of their vision.” Accordingly, on May 10 the Department of Pub- lic Works installed exhibits in Borden, DeHart, and Maplecrest Parks that include a map – with mileage – of the walking paths, set into a map of the imme- diate neighborhood. Says Davenport, “In addition to giving people an incentive to move more, these exhibits also give people a sense of neighborhood – location and history – and they give people a sense of belonging, which is a big part of being healthy.” The exhibits, funded by a grant from the Town- ship Open Space Trust Fund, are a fascinating result Fitness Meets History Gaining a glimpse of Maplewood’s past while walking through its parks BY JESSICA LITUCHY Bob Roe, Maplewood Health Officer, and Candice Davenport, Maplewood’s Public Health Nurse and Health Educator, at Borden Park next to the exhibit they helped conceive.