Leading Age - January/February 2011 - 8

A Process, Not a Destination
Modern, holistic wellness programs please residents and help providers manage resources better.
b y D e br a W o o d, R . N .

The language and practice of wellness has become a day-today reality in many aging-services settings. Resident choice and opportunity dovetails with provider organizations’ need to manage resources. An emphasis on wellness can delay transitions and reduce acute health episodes, while helping seniors achieve a more fulfilling life as they define it. Here is how three communities have created their own cultures of wellness, adopting and adapting proven wellness models and encouraging residents to dream bigger and healthier dreams.

ore than the absence of illness or physical fitness, wellness has evolved to encompass all aspects of life—from spiritual to emotional to intellectual health. Various aging-services providers have embraced the more holistic approach to wellness and encourage their residents to journey along its path to enrich their lives, to grow as individuals and to enjoy all of the possibilities life has to offer. “Residents have the opportunity to dream dreams and do new things,” says Lisa Bloder, wellness coordinator for Westminster Communities of Florida, a 19-location system with more than 5,000 residents, based in Orlando. “Wellness is a process, not a destination. Our goal is to give residents choices and opportunities.” Wellness requires looking at the whole person, adds Aline Russotto, associate executive director of Orchard Cove in Canton, Mass., a part of Hebrew SeniorLife. “It allows us, as administrators of the community, to better manage the demands and resources,” Russotto says. “The old wellness philosophy is wellness equals fitness, but we are

Orchard Cove

At Orchard Cove, a wellness coach and interdisciplinary teams help residents meet individualized wellness goals, which involve social and spiritual needs as much as fitness and preventive health.

LeadingAge magazine | January/February 2011

Leading Age - January/February 2011

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