Wellness Institute

Staging for Aging: Valuing, Supporting and Engaging Seniors in Your

Community

Wellness Institute at Seven Oaks General

Hospital• First Medical Fitness Centre in Canada• Connecting the Community with Medical

Fitness

• Opened in 1996 with a mandate to promote health, prevent illness and disability, and restore wellness of the body, mind and spirit.

• Wellness Institute is located in North Winnipeg

• Currently 7000 members• Most members reside within close

proximity. • Average age 56 years old

To lead a shift toward illness prevention and wellness in the healthcare system and to inspire members of our community to adopt healthy lifestyles and learn to be well.

How We Are Responding to the Aging Population

• Became an Official Champion of “Changing the Way We Age”

Partnership with International Council of Active Aging (ICAA)

• Resource to Leaders

• Partnership with Canadian Centre for Activity and Aging (CCAA)

• Engaging with Older Adults – Natural Marketing Institute, Centre on Aging etc.

• Partnership with Active Living Coalition of Older Adults in MB (ALCOA)

Programs & Services

• Active Aging Day & other special events

• Active Older Adult Certification Program

• Health Education Programs – collaboration with community partners

• Chronic Disease Pathways

Get Better Together!• Get Better Together is a workshop given

in 2 ½ hours, once a week, for 6 weeks

• People with different chronic health problems attend the program together in community settings.

• Workshops are facilitated from a highly detailed manual by two trained leaders, one or both of whom are peers with a chronic health condition themselves.

Program Evaluation

Stanford did a randomized controlled trial (n=1,000)

• Results:– Fewer days in hospital.– Trend towards fewer outpatient visits and

hospitalizations.– Decreases in health distress, fatigue, disability,

and social role & activity limitations.– Improvements in exercise, self reported

general health, cognitive symptom management, & communication.

Scope of GBT

• 45 programs per year through Manitoba

• 26 programs per year in Winnipeg

• Coordinated by each RHA

• Demonstrated successful in First Nation communities

How Can I Get Involved?

*Recommend participants to program

*Partner to offer GBT at your site*Become a leader in your RHA

For More Information Contact: Amy Yonda – 632-3935

Health Literacy • Ability to access, understand,

evaluate and communicate information for health.

60% of Canadian adults lack the capacity to obtain, understand and act upon health information and services and to make appropriate health decisions on their own.

Seniors fall beneath this national average.

““Where the heart is willing it Where the heart is willing it will find a thousand ways, will find a thousand ways, but where it is unwilling, but where it is unwilling,

it will find a thousand excuses.”it will find a thousand excuses.”

Dayak Proverb