60-something janitor is model of good health

'He's a role model'
Most students on the campus of nearly 600 students have at least a passing familiarity with Hubbard, who carries home-baked cakes to his friends on the college staff on their birthdays. Some students and women on the staff get flowers on their birthdays.

“He’s a wicked sweet guy,” said Tyler Evan, a wildlife conservation major from Brattleboro, Vt. Some students say they knew Hubbard walked a lot, but didn’t know he walked so far.

“Basically, it’s a healthy campus, so he’s a role model,” said Kyle Koch of Madison, N.H., a junior ecology major.

The students think so highly of Hubbard that for the second year in a row this spring, he will hand out saplings to seniors as they march across the stage in a Unity graduation tradition. One of the professors took up a collection to buy Hubbard a bright yellow L.L. Bean jacket, which he wears on his daily jaunts.

A framed certificate on the wall of his closet-sized office proclaims Hubbard the “King of Unity.”

Avoiding chronic disease
Hubbard’s daily routine also earns the admiration of state officials, who are trying to help Mainers avoid chronic disease by getting them to exercise and live healthier lifestyles. State multimedia efforts focus on two leading causes of chronic disease: obesity and smoking.

Health officials acknowledge that not everyone in a rural state like Maine can walk to work as Hubbard does. But state radio and television spots, which urge people to park their cars farther from work, do errands on foot and use home chores as exercise routines, stress that any physical activity improves health.

The state Transportation Department is trying to remove barriers that keep children from walking to school, and a Healthy Maine Walks Web site helps connect Mainers with local trails and other safe walking routes.

More than 4,000 Maine residents die every year and 29,000 are hospitalized from cardiovascular disease, according to the state Health Bureau. Much of the problem is due to lifestyles that have grown more unhealthy over the generations, as people eat high-calorie foods and get little exercise, said state Health Director Dora Anne Mills.

“Over the last 100 years, we’ve segregated daily exercise and good nutrition from our daily lives,” said Mills. The state is trying to reverse that trend, she said, and Hubbard is “a prime example of what people can do.”

MORE FROM FITNESS

Fitness Section Front

This holiday, take your diet advice and stuff it Heavy college students must pass fitness class Nintendo Wii may provide actual exercise Can working out wear you out? Lack of exercise not to blame for teen obesity? Get fit, faster, with short-burst training Move that muffin top to your chest? Why music makes exercise easier Hula hooping it up for health, first lady swivels Poll: Americans are spending less on exercise Fitness Section Front   Add Fitness headlines to your news reader: