Senior residents of Davis learn about healthy living as part of monthly series
The Davis Senior Center, in collaboration with Yolo County’s Adult and Aging Branch, held a workshop on diabetes on April 14 as a part of their monthly healthy living series. The workshops increase seniors’ awareness of ways to stay healthy. The program began in January 2016 and will continue until June, giving seniors and Davis residents the chance to be informed about healthier living options.
Among those who attended the diabetes workshop was Wanda Wanton, a senior resident of Davis, who found it particularly interesting because of her family’s history of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. She emphasizes her appreciation for the workshops.
“I think it’s wonderful that the staff of the senior center are truly interested in the health and welfare of the senior citizens of Davis. I think it is very innovative and progressive on their part and I don’t know of any other senior center that works so diligently to help seniors with their health and welfare,” Wanton said.
Lisa DeAmicis, program coordinator at the Davis Senior Center, explains that although the Senior Center has held other health-related workshops, this series is unique.
“This is the first time that we have scheduled an ongoing series that tackles a different topic every month with the same speaker. It is conceived as a series of workshops so it’s a way for people to build a body of knowledge about their own health,” DeAmicis said.
According to Wanton, the workshops were informative and well-presented. She adds that the speaker, Lisa Musser, ensures that everyone fully understands the information. Wanton looks forward to similar workshops in the future.
Musser, who is a senior public health nurse for Yolo County, explains that the turnout in Davis is always impressive, attracting about 20 people per workshop with an average age of 73.
“I did a lot of research setting up the program and health promotion is pretty hard to study, to actually know whether there’s outcomes. I based a lot of the ideas for it on Stanford’s Chronic Disease Self-Management Program. Stanford developed it a long time ago in the ‘90s, and they’ve been giving it around the country and around the world now. It is based on self-management of chronic disease, promoting self-efficacy, taking charge of your health and your life, so I kind of based it on that,” Musser said.
Musser has 10 workshops and presents them at 14 different senior centers and smaller groups at senior housing complexes. The workshops start with the heart, as she informs people about blood pressure and how to perform CPR. She then goes onto sessions on the brain, healthy eating habits for people over 50 and maintaining healthy bones.
“As people age, different things start to happen; bodies change and it’s a way to stay educated and help make informed choices about eating or health care or exercise,” DeAmicis said. “It’s a way to help people stay healthy as long as possible.”
Written By: HADYA AMIN- city@theaggie.org
