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Active Living Program News

Spotlight on Ashe Services for the Aging

Ashe Services for the Aging is one of 18 sites throughout North Carolina offering Active Living Every Day as part of a study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC established the grant to determine the effectiveness of Active Living Every Day for people with arthritis. We recently spoke with the Ashe Services group and learned that they’ve discovered some innovative ways to be physically active.

A member of facilitator Linda Autry’s Active Living Every Day class suggested walking on the airport runway, which has only two planes using the runway per day. In addition to finding this unique and safe location to walk, the participants found other fun ways to become more active. Here are some examples:

• As suggested in the Active Living Every Day book, Linda encouraged her participants to move during TV commercials: walk, sweep the porch, anything active. “You can accomplish 10 minutes of activity in a typical 30-minute TV program!” Linda says. “That adds up fast.”
• An outdoor treasure hunt in the spring encouraged everyone to get out and enjoy the warmer weather. Clues led the class downtown to walk and find answers to questions such as “Which store has a window display with a red jacket in it?” They brought their answers back the next week, and the person with the most correct answers won a prize.
• They learned that Ashe Services had a walking trail, and there are many other good walking spots around town that they didn’t think of before.
• The group started a walking club. As part of the club, each member tracked his or her progress and charted a path to the Grand Canyon and back.
• In session 14, Linda organized a reward trip for the great progress everyone had made. Their small town is an hour away from the closest shopping mall. Linda arranged for a bus to take them to the mall to walk and shop for the afternoon.

Linda enjoys leading the class. “People like it because it really gets them active. Not many people think of starting with only 2 minutes a day and building up their activity from there. You can find time for that. If you can move around for 2 minutes, pretty soon you can do 10 minutes.”

Active Living Every Day helped the class participants realize that they can improve their health and increase their independence by becoming more active. One woman had surgery before the course started and was not able to use the stairs in her home. She considered installing a stair elevator to help her reach the second floor. But now that she’s more active, she uses the stairs with no problem.

Linda even discovered some personal health benefits from the course. She became more active and lost weight. “I’m almost the same size now that I was 30 years ago,” says Linda. “I feel great.”

We thank Ashe Services for the Aging for sharing their story with us. We look forward to hearing more of their accomplishments in coming months.

Posted 12/30/04