Annual evaluations inform, improve seniors’ health

WASHINGTON — At United Presbyterian Home, early April marks the beginning of a new season, and a special time of year for many residents: annual fitness assessment day.

Many residents at the retirement community opt into the yearly evaluations of their overall well-being. The process involves biceps curls, a walking test, height and weight measurements and several other exercises.

Wellness Coach Stefanie Haworth said residents usually saw encouraging results, even as they got older.

“It’s actually fun to see, when they first come in, and look at it 10 years later, they’re actually stronger — most of the time — than (when) they first started,” she said. “They can see some huge improvements, even later in life. It’s incredible.”

The UP home fitness center sees plenty of use outside testing season, of course. Haworth said it offered classes, which are regularly used by many of the residents.

Those classes are one major cause for residents’ enhanced wellness.

“The ones that are making fitness a priority, you can definitely see the improvement,” she said. “They might have been living on their own before they came and doing their normal household stuff, but now that they’re retired and have some time to put themselves as a priority, and get the exercise in, you can see some huge improvements.”

For some, that’s a conscious effort. For others, it’s an opportunity for social interaction.

“They might be living in an apartment by themselves and this might be one of the only times they get out throughout the day,” Haworth said. “But we do have a big group that come down here and push themselves for cardiovascular and strength training as well.”

In addition, the test is useful for staff of the retirement community. The regular update on participants’ health helps set a baseline level of physical abilities, and ensures that professionals are alerted early to possible health problems, and recommend therapy to address them.

By design, Haworth said every indicator on the test gives insight into participants’ day-to-day abilities.

“This is a functional fitness test,” she said. “It helps us understand how well our members are maintaining activities of daily living; are they functionally moving throughout their day? … and how can we help them make their way through their day with less effort having fun, being social and having an overall great quality of life?”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com