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Tag: Fall prevention

Step Lively: Creative and Fun Approaches to Building Balance

Mon, February 29, 2016 Published by

The SAFER Stepping Fall Prevention Course has begun its third session and continues to offer residents targeted balance and leg strengthening exercises, as well as fall risk education and great tips for preventing falls. If you’re interested in signing up for the next fall prevention course this spring, call Jessica at x6110. For those who are also curious about less formal methods for building balance, consider the following two innovative ideas.

Studies show that dancing can improve balance and gait patterns. One study compared seniors who were social dancers with senior non-dancers. The social dancers averaged 80 years of age and danced four times a month. The study found that while the dancing seniors were not stronger than their non-dancing counterparts, they had better balance, safer walking patterns, and more confidence in their balance abilities. Another study of older adults participating in tango classes twice a week found senior tango participants did have better leg strength than a similar group who walked for the same amount of time each week. If you’d like to have fun at Beatitudes while improving your balance, you might try participating in Zumba Gold dance classes on Mondays at 2PM in the Motion Studio or Open Dance Floor in the Recreation Center every 1st and 3rd Tuesday at 4PM.

Another fresh approach to building balance and mobility confidence involves the use of walking poles. Nordic walking is walking with poles similar to ski poles. The use of trekking poles for Nordic walking can provide stability, improve gait length, speed and posture, reduce load-bearing weight on the knees, hips, and spine, and increase strength and endurance in the upper body, making walking a full-body workout. In fact, Nordic walking is widely used as an effective therapeutic walking technique for individuals with Parkinson’s disease. While Nordic walking, you should walk in an upright position and make sure you do not lean forward or backward. Your head should be up and looking forward. The poles are held close to your body with your elbows bent at approximately 90 degrees. When the leading foot moves forward, the opposite arm swings forward to waist height. The opposite pole strikes the ground level with the heel of the leading foot. Trekking poles can be purchased at most sports stores and in many camping departments at department stores. Test out your trekking poles with the morning walking group and take advantage of the beautiful weather! *

Success Matters!

Mon, February 2, 2015 Published by

It started 50 years ago when a new community opened its doors promising the highest quality of life and opportunity for successful aging. Until those doors opened, the chances for truly successful living, in what were mostly “nursing homes,” were close to none. They were simply a place to exist day in and day out with no real belief in lifestyle choices and options that can strengthen physical and mental outlooks.
jamie-lee-curtis-quote

What the founders of this new community knew was that offering only day to day existence was beyond an insult because learning, living and growing takes place all the days of our lives no matter what level of physical or mental capability. Fifty years later, Beatitudes Campus continues its mission of offering its residents, at every level in its community, the opportunity to access the highest quality of life and success each day and to embrace those tools that will help create it. And just like fifty years ago, it is our mission to continue to discover new and innovative ways to achieve success for every resident whom we have the honor to serve.

At Beatitudes Campus, success matters – your success matters! No one can force success on another. But we know that if we can offer our residents the insights, tools and programs, that for what others are convinced is inevitable when it comes to aging, our residents can redefine and thrive instead.

What does success look like? It might look like waking up one day realizing that getting out of bed and standing is getting harder and harder – and then going to the Fitness Center and looking for new ways to strengthen those legs and keep them lifting you for years to come. It might look like realizing that your sense of balance is changing – and then instead of waiting for “the fall”, checking with your doctor and taking Fall Prevention classes and balance exercises all aimed at keeping you upright for all those times you want to be. It might look like observing that you have been staying home and even ordering dinner in not only getting out less but socializing less becoming the recipe for depression – and then pushing yourself into the Bistro or Buckwald’s and joining in some activities. By the way, it is not too late to register for a Lifelong Learning class. And it might look like awakening to the fact that days are feeling more sad than happy, and motivation to do anything is slipping away – and then talking to your doctor or pharmacist about medicines that might be causing those feelings – or seeing our excellent counselor in the Wellness Center – or talking to our Chaplains – or pushing yourself back out and surrounding yourself with friends to expose you to some of the most inspiring people right here in your midst. The fact is doing all of the above is part of a recipe for success that you can start cooking up any day you choose. It is the beginning of successful living.

Success matters – your success matters. That is why we are still discovering new ingredients and cooking up new ways to do all we can to be a part of your success. In the next few months, be watching for Resident Services to unveil what we think has been a missing ingredient to our being able to offer you a complete recipe for your mind, body and spirit’s success. We think we have found it and we can’t wait for you to have a taste. Success matters, your success matters at Beatitudes Campus.

Fifty years later this campus is still dedicated to your learning, living and growing – your success – and if you dare to embrace success it is yours. And fifty years later we are still researching and dreaming up innovative approaches and tools to offer, so as to have the greatest potential for achieving the most success at every level. That’s success.

Stay tuned and remember: Your Success Matters to us.