The Meadows offers ‘Live to Be Healthy’ program

• Meadows

Beth rickers/Daily Globe Sam Furth from the Worthington Area YMCA leads an exercise class for residents Wednesday at The Meadows.

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WORTHINGTON — Keeping active and getting plenty of exercise helps seniors stay more independent longer. That’s why The Meadows of Worthington has incorporated an exercise program, Live to Be Healthy, into its routine.

“The goal is to help you feel better physically and mentally,” said Pat Henderschiedt, director of marketing at The Meadows.

A physical trainer visits the facility three afternoons a week and leads exercises specifically geared toward seniors, designed to develop strength and balance and use all parts of the body. Exercises are done while sitting in a chair, standing or using a hallway railing or with partners.

Between 20 and 30 Meadows residents attend the Live to Be Healthy workout, and all of them are tested on a quarterly basis to find out whether their health has improved — and there’s even a reward program. So far, results have been good, and the residents love the program.

“If they miss it, they’re devastated,” Henderschiedt said. “It helps keep them active… and it’s a social thing, too.”

Henderschiedt herself will begin participating in Live to Be Healthy as part of her cardiac rehabilitation regimen, rather than having to visit a hospital three times a week.

“I know that the residents are always teasing me to come and exercise,” Henderschiedt said. “This is saving me time, giving me contact with the residents and giving me the cardiac rehabilitation I need.”

The Meadows hopes to add another Live to Be Healthy group session in 2012, so more of the 90-plus residents — with an average age of 87 — can participate in the program.

Live to Be Healthy has been incorporated into several other assisted living facilities run by Ecumen, which owns The Meadows.

Ecumen, headquartered in Shoreview, was recently designated as one of Minnesota’s “Best Places to Work” by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal for the sixth year in a row. The award is based on employee responses to an online survey, which all employees are free to fill out.

The Meadows was started by local business leaders in Worthington 19 years ago and sold seven years ago to the Board of Social Ministry, which later changed its name to Ecumen. The Meadows has approximately 45 people on its staff, including full- and part-time workers.

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