When
thinking about balance, most residents at the Western Home would say it
is something they constantly are worried about and want to improve on.
With that in mind Wellness Coordinator
Amanda Lynch came up with a fun concept to engage residents in
activities to improve their balance. She's starting a fun balancing
class named appropriately "Balancing Acts". She wants to help residents
achieve greater balance control with these fun exercises
during class, but also to stress the importance of practicing at home.
Amongst
the activities they have completed have been "walking the line."
Taking each foot in front of the other and trying to stay close the
line. Most watched other complete each pass
and thought it was a lot harder than it looked when they performed the
exercise.
In
just a weeks time however residents have improved their skills and
continue to practice on the off time. Another great exercise that
surprised most residents was sitting on a swiss
ball. They found themselves having to really concentrate on their core
and find the balance through their hips all the way to their feet. It
was a fun exercise and after gaining the balance they really felt relief
and joy in sitting on the swiss ball.
It
will be a class that Lynch continues to look forward to. She will
continue teaching not only independent living residents but move into
the assisted living residents as well to help
them gain the knowledge needed to keep their balance in check. One of
the main goals is to help reduce the amount of falls by residents, and
it is looking like this class is going in the right direction to achieve
that.