Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Seniors ‘Step On It’ to improve health
CLERMONT — Leola “Lee” Dempster, 87, had a big smile on her face as she walked through the parking lot at Benton House senior living community with a cane in one hand and her son, Jim, clasping the other.
When she was a girl, Dempster walked nearly five miles each way to school in rural southern Illinois. Over the years, the retired teacher cut back, but she’s lacing up her walking shoes again as part of a program called Step On It! that’s being rolled out at assistedliving facilities in Florida, including several in Seminole County.
Seniors can benefit greatly from regular exercise, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization.
“The No. 1 determining factor in how we age is our mobility,” said Stacy Bromell, assistant vice president of specialty sales at home health care and hospice company Kindred at Home, which created Step On It!
A 2014 study by the Institute on Aging at the University of Florida found that structured, moderate intensity exercise helped sedentary adults ages 70 to 89 maintain the ability to walk without aid and regain it when lost.
Walking is “good for the vast majority of people, including older adults that are moderately functioning,” said Stephen Anton, chief of clinical research at the UF department of aging and geriatric research.
At Westminster Winter Park, even residents in the memory-care unit take part in exercise programs, including a half-hour wateraerobics class and extended walks, assisted-living activities coordinator Kim Dike said.
Participants, who are escorted for the 30-minute round-trip stroll, sometimes pause on the terrace overlooking the lake and pool for a cup of tea, making the activity social as well as moderately aerobic.
“It helps so much with their well-being to keep active,” Dike said.
Windsor Place at Orlando Lutheran Towers, an assisted-living facility, offers a morning walk to Lake Eola Park among other exercise options, activity director Christine Brown said. The idea is not so much to get the heart pumping but to see different sights, hear different sounds, enjoy nature and spend time with friends outdoors.
Indoors, residents can choose from classes, including stretch, chair Zumba, yoga and ballroom dance. Students do ankle circles, point their toes and open and shut their hands in an effort to keep them mobile and help improve balance.
At Benton House, stretch, yoga and daily strolls at breakfast time have been on the schedule for a while, but not many people showed up for the walks, activity director Viv Morales said. That’s why the assisted-living facility decided to try Step On It!
“If it’s a group thing, it’s a big encouragement for them to do it,” she said.
On the first day, the exercisers made their way slowly across the parking lot and down the sidewalk, some pushing walkers or sitting in wheelchairs.
Before the walk, the residents were given a pedometer, a water bottle and a log to record their steps. They also heard inspirational stories about people in their 90s who run competitively.
The program emphasizes the social and emotional benefits of working together for a common purpose. The group is walking to the virtual destination of New Orleans. When they collectively log enough steps — 1,254,000 — they’ll be rewarded with a Mardi Grasthemed party.
“We might be senior citizens, but we like to move,” said resident Sharon Collier, 78. “We don’t want to just sit around and chit chat.”
Widower Al Frick, 88, said another resident motivated him to walk regularly to a nearby lake and do strength training in his room. He said almost all of his relatives died in their 60s, so he’s going to keep on hoofing now with Step On It!
On a recent day, he logged 1,337 steps in a couple of hours.
“I figured that if I didn’t keep moving,” he said, “I’d probably die.”