Seniors and their supporters ring in Older Americans Month

Hundreds of seniors were in high spirits as they kicked off Older Americans Month with an Age With Movement celebration in Modesto.

As the day quickly warmed up Friday morning, East La Loma Park buzzed with greetings, conversation, laughter and music as residents visited dozens of information booths, watched or took part in fitness demonstrations, listened to the Funstrummers Ukulele Band, underwent health checks and walked the park’s paved trail.

The great majority at the Age With Movement event – put on by the Healthy Aging Association and several partners – got around unassisted, many of them even navigating the inclined sidewalk from Edgebrook Drive down into the park. Others used canes, walkers or wheelchairs, but the common bond was that they were all out and about.

That connectedness is the push of this year’s Older Americans Month, said Kim Viviano, director of health and wellness and fitness program manager for the Modesto-based Healthy Aging Association. The nationwide observance’s 2015 theme is “Get into the Act,” urging seniors to get or stay involved in their communities through social activities and volunteerism, she said.

“People are living longer – we don’t like to say we’re ‘getting older,’ we’re ‘living longer,’” she said at the ninth annual event. “You can choose the quality of that life by being active, staying involved, staying connected.”

The Healthy Aging Association offers ongoing free Young at Heart fitness classes in Modesto, Ceres, Grayson, Newman, Oakdale, Patterson, Turlock, Waterford and Ripon for residents 60 and older – or 60 and “better,” as a brochure puts it.

The classes accommodate a range of participation ability, Viviano said; seniors can take them sitting, standing, using walkers. “It’s never too late to start,” she said. “I love to see someone who starts a class sitting but eventually advances to being able to do it standing.”

The classes combine strength training with exercises to improve flexibility and balance. The Healthy Aging Association also offers low-impact aerobics, tai chi, mall walking and, in partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank, a Green Bag nutrition program.

Friday’s Age With Movement celebration preregistered about 200 attendees, said Viviano, who was expecting just as many or more to just show up that morning. Parking spots in the park’s lot were full, as was street parking on nearby Edgebrook, and vans were bringing in residents from several senior living complexes in Modesto.

The event has grown from about four booths its first year to 44 this time, she said. Around the park’s paved area, kinesiology students from California State University, Stanislaus, offered balance and blood pressure checks; a couple of booths offered free massages; seniors were given colon cancer screening tests to take home; and information and freebies were provided by a variety of agencies, nonprofits and businesses that offer services to the older set.

Frances McMath of Modesto had her blood pressure checked and passed with flying colors. No surprise to her, as the 87-year-old exercises three times a week through Young at Heart and has been at it for 10 years. A longtime golfer, she joked that “I used to play golf, now I play at it.”

She said she thrives on the exercise and involvement she gets through Young at Heart and “I’m so sorry that a lot of the older people like me are housebound and can’t get to these classes.”

At the Modesto Fire Department table, Capt. John Bairos shared a message of prevention. The department frequently responds to calls of seniors who have taken falls. “They either lose their balance, trip over something or slip on a throw rug,” he said, “or they’re walking on hardwood with just regular socks, not the gripping kind.”

Responders assess the seniors for injuries and, of course, send them for treatment as necessary. To those fortunate to have suffered only bruises and perhaps a bruised ego, “We try to express to them that this could be a life-altering event. If they break their pelvis or a leg, they’re not going to heal quickly, and their independent life would be over.”

Bairos urges seniors to take advantages of existing services – such as home safety checks to look for such things as tripping hazards – “so they can continue to live an independent life.”

Returning from one of the Age With Movement organized walks on the East La Loma Park path, 60-year-old Modestan Janet Hannah shared that she’d done 5 miles before ever arriving at the event. That long walk on her 60-acre almond ranch is her daily routine with her boxer-Rottweiler mix, Breezy. Six days a week, she also takes and/or teaches tai chi classes (Breezy does not), and she led a demonstration at Friday’s celebration.

“I have really bad arthritis, and what’s helped me is to be able to move,” Hannah said. She finds tai chi ideal because it uses gentle, flowing motion but still offers some cardio. In fact, when you’re really into it, you can “sweat like a stinking pig,” she said.

And she likes that you can squeeze in a little tai chi anywhere, especially if you don’t mind the occasional odd look. She’s done movements while waiting in line at the grocery store.

“I’ve lost more of my inhibitions the older I get,” she said.

Hannah’s mantra was simple: Keep moving.

“If you stop moving, you’re not going to do well,” she said. “Even with arthritis, if you keep moving, you’ll have less pain.”

This story was originally published May 3, 2015 at 9:23 AM with the headline "Seniors and their supporters ring in Older Americans Month."