On this episode of Advice From Your Advocates, Bob sat down with Jennifer Joyner who is a Health and Wellness Program Coordinator at Valley Area Agency on Aging. Jennifer is also a certified Arthritis Instructor through the Arthritis Foundation and certified with Silver Sneakers as an instructor. She has been teaching the evidence-based disease exercise program to seniors across Genesee, Shiawassee & Lapeer County.
The Silver Sneakers program is a popular fitness program that offers fun and interactive classes for a variety of seniors throughout local senior centers and select locations like churches in other counties. In order for a senior to partake in a program near them, they simply need to check the back of their insurance card to call for more information to ensure that the program is covered – which many times seems to be the case. As a recipient of this type of coverage, seniors can attend any class at no fee to themselves, or their provider. All a senior has to do is provide a member id number or card to gain entry to a class, even if they are not a member at a gym or center that hosts the class for example.
Jennifer travels throughout the Genesee, Shiawassee and Lapeer County to provide seniors access to this revolutionary program to continue to bring both emotional and physical comfort to seniors and their caretakers (if they choose to participate). The duration of the program varies based on where it is held, but at minimum, there needs to be at least 10 people committed for a minimum of six weeks to host a program at a facility. Depending on the volume of people coming, some of her classes have routine schedules and locations. She very much encourages anyone to come visit her class, even just to observe to see if it might be of interest to them.
Bob and Jennifer also discussed the impact of socialization that this provides for the attendees, particularly coming out of the pandemic after so much time in insolation. Beyond even the socialization and obvious physical health elements gained through these classes, there is also repetition and conversation that allows for cognitive prevention and strengthening as well. Jennifer proudly notes that these classes truly care for the mind, body and soul and that each seniors abilities and limitations can be worked around and improved with consistency.
For more information on these classes or to find one near you, please visit: https://tools.silversneakers.com/
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