At the February program, the Senior Network presented 3 speakers (pictured left to right), Rich Shipman, Memory Fitness Trainer; Janet Werst, Injury Prevention Coordinator; and Ellen Pihlstrom, Community Health Educator; all with the University of Colorado Health System.
Janet presented several interesting programs on fall and injury prevention. The “Stepping On” program is a 7 week class on fall prevention with a 90% success rate and is designed for seniors over 60 years, who have had falls recently or are fearful of falling, live at home and don’t have dementia. Next class is April 8 at the Fort Collins Senior Center. Call 970-221-6644 to register for this $10 class.
Ellen discussed several health programs including Powerful Tools for Caregivers, originated by a national organization and used throughout the country including Larimer County. Ellen elaborated on diabetes, pain and chronic condition classes using the “Start Living Well” classes. She explained the “Enhance Wellness” workshop is a 20 week class for self managing your lifestyle changes to improve your health. Cost is $125 for this life changing course. The classes show a ten times reduction in falls and 56% reduction in blood pressure results. Call 970-498-7758 for the caregiver program and 970- 495-8560 to register for the wellness classes.
Rich emphasized their memory program based upon Dr. Gary Small’s book on “The Memory Prescription,” which is a six week course with evidence based results in memory improvement. The course focuses on four key areas in memory improvement, stress reduction, healthy diet, and physical fitness. The course is limited to 18 attendees and costs $60 per class. Entrance is restricted to people needing preventative measures on memory improvement and to retain cognitive abilities. Call 970- 495-8560 to register for this class.
The goals of this class is to teach life skills with several brain games, mental aerobic and memory exercises. One such exercise is “Look, Snap, and Connect” focuses on remembering the location of everyday items such as car or house keys and cellphones by repeating to yourself the location versus using your mental memory to remember where you placed these items.
For more information on these classes, please visit their website at uchealth.org and search for classes.