Contact: Angela L. Yu
Corporate Communications
(518) 271-5045
GLEN EDDY LAUNCHES “EMPOWERU” WELLNESS PROGRAM
NISKAYUNA, N.Y. – May 15, 2013 – Glen Eddy, The Eddy’s senior living community located in Niskayuna, has implemented “EmpowerU,” a unique, new wellness program that helps seniors stay fit and age better.
In collaboration with Morrison Management Specialists, another senior living provider, the Glen Eddy senior living community designed the comprehensive program to help seniors live at their best and age successfully by reducing the risk of disease and disease-related disability, and maintaining a high physical and mental function.
EmpowerU takes into account not only a senior’s physical, social and emotional functions, but the nutritional and environmental aspects, and various other factors that can affect our health and wellbeing. A dedicated wellness director coordinates a series of different exercises that each run for about 12-weeks. Individual assessments are taken before and after the program to optimize health and wellbeing in mind, body and spirit.
EmpowerU: Exercises for Seniors
EmpowerU features an exercise component that targets the main biomarkers of aging, such as strength, muscle mass, metabolic rate, body fat, aerobic capacity, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and bone density.
Each participant is assessed so that the exercises are geared to their level of agility, balance, upper body flexibility and lower body strength. Participants then enroll in a variety of classes, from aqua exercises to yoga, line-dancing, strength circuit and Zumba Gold.
EmpowerU: Nutrition for Seniors
Nutrition is another important component of Empower U. Glen Eddy offers classes to educate residents in this area, everything from the rainbow food plate guidelines, to portion control, food choices, important nutrients, and mindful eating.
EmpowerU: Producing Results
Since launching EmpowerU in November, Glen Eddy has found impressive results in both independent and enriched housing residents who improved in many areas – as much as 80 percent in balance doing single leg stands, for example. Improvements were also made in other categories, including upper body flexibility and lower body strength, balance, with some individuals improving several hundred times compared to before they participated in the program.
Residents noted a remarkable change in ability to get out of a chair without help, or getting around without having to hold on to a support system. In fact, as a result of Empower U, one resident was actually able to stop using her cane to move around. Some also reported better sleep. The results and all the data collected will be used to design new classes to best fit seniors at various levels.
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St. Peter’s Health Partners was created on October 1, 2011 by the merger of Northeast Health, St. Peter’s Health Care Services and Seton Health. The merger created the region’s largest and most comprehensive not-for-profit network of high-quality, advanced medical care, primary care, rehabilitation and senior services. These state-of-the-art services and programs are provided through Albany Memorial Hospital and St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany; Samaritan Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital in Troy; Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital in Schenectady; as well as The Eddy system of continuing care and The Community Hospice. The new organization has 12,500 employees at more than 165 locations in seven counties of northeastern New York. St. Peter’s Health Partners is the region’s largest private employer and has an annual budget of $1.2 billion. For more information, please visit www.SPHP.com.