Kalispell’s Straight Blast Gym received $4,000 in grant money to start another program that will keep arthritic Montanans walking to improve their health.

The Arthritis Foundation approached the gym’s owner, Kisa Davison, and asked Straight Blast to apply for the grant.

The money will start a new program — Walk With Ease — to go alongside the existing Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program.

“It’s a program to help people start and continue a walking program,” Davison said. “Most people do really well for the first couple of weeks, but then something happens and it becomes less of a priority for them.”

Straight Blast Gym, according to Davison, has a high retention rate. She hopes that will continue for those in the eight-week, $298 program.

That money gets personal training, consultation, classes and health plan. If that seems too steep, part of the $4,000 grant will go toward scholarships for those with arthritis.

“Coupled with our proven coaching and training methods, we look forward to making a difference in the lives of adults with arthritis in Flathead Valley,” Davison wrote in a press release.

In 2009, more than 200,000 Montanans over age 18 reported having some sort of arthritis — a collection of more than 100 different diseases and problems.

Of those afflicted, 48 percent said they were limited in their activities in some way.

The grant money is part of a new outreach from the Arthritis Foundation in collaboration with the Montana Arthritis Program (a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded program) that wants to give 14,625 arthritic Montanans who do not currently have treatment access over the next five years.

For inquiries into the programs or the scholarship opportunities, contact Straight Blast Gym at 752-7244.