Senior Center Best Practices

Managers, Directors and Center Personnel

Senior Center Best Practices

Category
Community Event

Senior Center/Nutrition Program/Organization Name
Friendship Circle Senior Center

Address
1515 Lansdowne Road, Darby, Pa

Phone Number
610-237-6222

E-Mail
chelmandollar@scs-delco.org

Contact Person
Christine Helmandollar, Center Director

Event Name
Passport to Health

Description/Overview
“Passport to Health” is a customized, collaborative, evidence-based program that has encouraged older adults in our Delaware County, Pennsylvania community to increase their daily activity, gain valuable knowledge about nutrition and live a healthier lifestyle. Since 2007, Senior Community Services (SCS) has partnered with neighboring Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital and the Area Agency on Aging, County Office of Services for the Aging (COSA) to bring this innovate program to SCS’ Friendship Circle Senior Center. This is both a participatory as well as an educational program that promotes physical activity and wellness education. This evidence-based health promotion program couples informative lectures with opportunities for physical activity and uses a creative template to generate interest. Springboarding from the “passport” theme, during the 13- week semester-long program, participants take an imaginary trip to historical sites across the United States. Along the way these older adults “earn miles” that can be redeemed for prizes as they attend health education lectures (fuel stops) or engage in physical activities (tune ups).

Long term participant goals include increasing wellness knowledge and interest in fitness thereby improving quality of life - specifically, reducing limitations in daily living activities and the likelihood of depression. Short-term outcome measurements are also tracked. Client assessment data is collected pre and post the 13- week sessions to include basic physiological indicators such as weight and blood pressure (BP), specific health knowledge and questions from a functional assessment and/or quality of life instrument.
Every week, health professionals such as physicians, physical therapists, nurses, and pharmacists from Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital come to the senior center to facilitate a workshop on a particular health topic. Attending a lecture, means adding “miles” to a participant’s “Passport to Health!” Here is a snap shot of some of the “fuel stops” participants took during the fall of 2007:

Interactive Workshops from Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital~
• Eating Healthy as We Age
• Putting Your Best Foot Forward with Diabetes
• Your Heart Health
• Managing Your Hypertension
• Living Life to the fullest after Stroke
• The ABC of Diabetic Medications
• Weight Management

Participants have many options for getting their passport miles at “tune ups” for engagement in fitness activities. They can become a member of Friendship Circle’s Walking Club, where each Wednesday a group convenes to walk a mile or two on a designated route. Another option is to attend one of SCS’s Center for Lifelong Learning classes.

Friendship Circle Fitness Classes~
• Line Dancing once a week
• Tai Chi once a week over 8 sessions
• Fitness Over 50 Exercise class twice a week
• Tap Dancing once a week
• Healthy Living Nutrition Education Class offered by Penn State Cooperative Extension twice a month

Gently promoting a completive sprit, a tracking grid is displaced on a wall in the Center, noting participants’ status in the program. Names are listed along with the “miles” they have accumulated each week.

Time and Manpower
The Center Manager and Program Coordinator spend time each week during the 13 weeks on coordination of speakers and "check-ins" of partcipants.

Marketing
Together, Friendship Circle and Mercy have developed and marketed brochures, posters and a detailed fact sheet for each lecture.

The actual "Passport" booklet is very extensive and does cost a lot for duplicating. It does need to be reproduced every time a new program begins because the "destination" is different each time.

Please contact the Center Director for samples of the materials. We have done "trips" around Philadelphia; up to New England; to Las Vegas, etc. and would be happy to share out "Passports".

Audience Served
Equal participations from Caucasian and African American Seniors with low to moderate income

Partnerships Utilized
Local hospital and Area Agency on Aging

Budget/Costs
From a budget standpoint, this program cost approximately $2,000 to start-up. Mercy-Fitzgerald provides many of the services of evaluating, instructing, organizing, graphic design, etc. in-kind. The majority of the grant funding was allocated to marketing and promotion as well as incentive gifts for the participants.

Passport to Health is easy to replicate especially in an environment where fitness classes are offered and a neighborhood health center is willing to collaborate. For years, Friendship Circle Senior Center has offered exercise classes twice a week with a dance class offered on a third day. SCS suggests anyone interested in replicating this program to recognize the importance “choice” plays in exercise. It is imperative to offer options – as Friendship Circle has learned offering participants a variety of exercise classes as well as lecture topics.

Partnering with a health care facility such as Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital has been abundant and truly a win-win experience. It not only adds visibility and credibility to our center’s programming but it is rewarding for hospital staff to provide stimulating lectures to a genuinely interested audience.

Impact On Center
Many success stories have been generated by participants on their weight loss, increased ease of walking, decrease in high blood pressure, etc.

Hospital staff shared with gratitude what a learning experience this has been for them. Many doctors have even offered to follow up with original participants. Furthering this new collaboration, the hospital has included Friendship Circle in additional hospital events such as their annual health and community fair. It has been a win-win situation for both the Senior Center as well as the neighboring Hospital.

Passport to Health also gave the Center a lot of exposure as in 2007. The program placed first in a state-wide competition for the “Prescription for Better Health & Wellness”, making it eligible for the national competition where it received Honorable Mention.

Good Tips/Other
None Given