Since joining Lancaster General Health in 2014, Benjamin Snell, MD, managing physician at LG Health Physicians Twin Rose Family Medicine, has been biking to his practice locations in Columbia and Wrightsville at least twice a week. For the family physician and healthy-living advocate, it’s a rewarding way to lead by example. “I lived in Washington, D.C., for about a decade and went to medical school at Georgetown. I used biking as my main source of transportation and continued that when I moved to Lancaster,” he said. During his Family Medicine residency at LG Health, Snell did a public health rotation and became involved with efforts that promote bike safety.
Earlier this year, LG Health partnered with Lancaster city to sponsor a station with the city’s first ever bike share program – “Bike it Lancaster.” In addition to supporting the bike share program, LG Health sponsors bicycle repair stations in the community and offers convenient bicycle parking at Lancaster General Hospital. “In Lancaster there’s been a lot of positive change in terms of bike infrastructure. In addition to the bike share program, we now have designated bike lanes and a lot more bike advocacy,” Snell said. “It’s been very much a reason for me staying rooted in this community.”
LG Health’s efforts were recently recognized by the Commuter Services of Pennsylvania’s Sustainable Transportation Awards Recognition (STAR) program. The Commuter Services of Pennsylvania, a non-profit organization that helps area residents identify commuter options available to them, uses the STAR program to recognize employers who have taken an active approach to implement on-site community benefit programs that help their employees. LG Health was honored in June with the Diamond STAR Award, the program’s top honor.
For Snell, riding remains a family pastime. He and his wife, Megan, a speech/language pathologist at LG Health, enjoy cycling with their 9-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter. “I bike with my kids to school, music lessons and sporting events. When I was growing up, my bike was how I got around. I really want that for my kids as well,” he said.