Interviews

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Over the past few months, we’ve looked at the roles of the nursing team and the rehab team in nursing homes. Now let’s consider a role that might be new to you.

Wellness coordinators are becoming increasingly common in senior living communities. They play an important part in enriching the lives of our residents. Today I’m thrilled that Stephanie Miller, a wellness coordinator from Minnesota, offered to share her expertise with my readers.

Tell us a bit about your background and how you came to be a wellness coordinator.

When I was younger, I loved playing sports which led me to want to pursue a career in the exercise world. I graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead in the fall of 2014 with a degree in exercise science. Immediately after graduation, I started working at Planet Fitness as a personal trainer.

I love helping others and enjoyed working with the elderly population during my time at Planet Fitness. That is what ultimately led me to look elsewhere for work, and I decided I would feel more helpful in an assisted living atmosphere. I have now been the wellness coordinator at Serenity Assisted living for almost 3 years.    

Describe your typical workday.

A typical workday for me is seeing residents on a one-on-one basis. The main areas of exercise we work on are balance, endurance, and strength. We host a group exercise class each day, one in each of our original buildings and one in our new Memory Care facility.

What do you like best about your role?

I love coming to work every day and seeing the smiles on the faces of the residents. They always manage to make me laugh while we are doing their exercises. It is the best job I could ever hope to have, and it is also so rewarding.

Some examples are seeing some residents come to Serenity in wheelchairs who are now walking, hearing residents say how much better they feel after exercising, and seeing how hard they work, even if they had previous illnesses or injuries that affect the movement of their limbs.

Describe some of the greatest challenges in your work.

Some of the greatest challenges I face are working with residents who have never exercised in their life and do not want to start now. Or some may say that they are too old for exercise. Also, some of them might have arthritis, bad shoulders, a bad back, bad knees, etc. that deter them from coming to the gym at all as they don’t feel it will help.

What advice can you offer to help older adults remain active and healthy?

I always say that if you don’t use your muscles, then you will lose them. Most people want to stay as independent as possible which is why they are in an assisted living facility. Getting them down to the gym and exercising is my way of helping them keep that independence.

Exercise can seem intimidating because many people think it consists of bench press, squats, push-ups and running, but that is not the case at Serenity. We let the residents decide what they are comfortable doing as we give helpful suggestions to help them achieve any goals they might have.

Some of those goals could be walking to and from their meals without stopping or being able to ride the bike for 20 minutes. Whatever it might be, we will work with them to ensure they are not overdoing it.

Tell us about some of the unique programs and activities you offer your residents.

We offer group exercise 2-3 times a week that lasts about 15-20 minutes. Group exercise consists of them moving joints they are not used to using every day. We also offer one-on-one exercise, as I mentioned earlier, which involves doing strength testing, balance, and endurance.

With that, we test those three categories every 12 weeks to see if the residents have improved, maintained, or decreased in those areas. We then know what to work on with them for the next 12 weeks. This consists of doing testing for specific arm and leg muscles, a walk test to determine the distance they can go in 6 minutes, and a balance test.

Lastly, we often coordinate fun games and activities around the holidays or when there are special events going on. Some examples include a Super Bowl game we just did. We have also done games and activities correlating with the Winter and Summer Olympics where our staff and residents are on teams together.

How do you motivate seniors to take part in wellness activities?

We really try to emphasize areas that exercise will benefit each resident individually. There are also some incentives available to residents if they do exercise. We will frequently take them to Pizza Ranch or out to lunch if they exercise with the wellness staff at least three times a week during those 12 weeks as well as complete the testing that I mentioned earlier.

 

Stephanie Miller is the wellness coordinator at Serenity Assisted Living & Memory Care in Dilworth, Minnesota. Be sure to check out their Facebook page to see photos and videos of their creative activities.