Participants In The Program example essay topic

Program Description The program I am going to work with this trimester is the "Wellness Program" at Hillcrest Healthcare Center in Wayzata, Minnesota. This program is part of a larger program called "Freedom through Functionality" which runs through Aegis Rehabilitation, the company which provides therapy services to Hillcrest Healthcare Center. The program currently consists of an exercise regimen using several different Nautilus machines at the facility two times each week. I learned about this program from observing it in action and through interviews with staff members. The purpose of the program is to help seniors stay active and healthy at home. Most of the participants in the program are former inpatients at Hillcrest Healthcare Center either living in assisted living facilities in the metro area or in the own homes.

By participating in this program, patients will continue to exercise and build strength as they had in inpatient therapy. The basic premise of the program is that muscular strength is vital to maintaining independent living. The physical activity done on the Nautilus machines substitutes for physical activity the seniors used to get through work or possibly homemaking activities they can no longer participate in. The participants in the program are all 60 years old or older. In order to be included in the program they must not have any contraindicating health factors to the exercise, be able to arrange transportation to and from the facility, and have adequate cognitive abilities to understand how to do the exercises correctly. Each participant must also be able to afford the $50 per month fee.

Up until a few months ago, the physical and occupational therapists at Hillcrest carried out the program themselves. However, with increasing demands for efficiency they found they no longer had them time. Several months ago, the company hired a physical therapy assistant to run the program. As of this month, he has seven seniors from the community who are participating in the program. There are usually slightly more women than men that participate in the program, according to the facility. As I stated earlier, each participant must pay a monthly fee of $50.

The therapist who runs the program is paid through Aegis Therapies in connection with their larger program "Freedom through Functionality". If participants in the program are receiving outpatient therapy also, they sometimes can be billed under Medicare Part B, but if they are just coming for the Wellness Program they are billed directly at home. The community surrounding Hillcrest Healthcare Center has a fairly large population of seniors. There are several assisted living facilities which have expressed an interest in sending residents to the program. Most of the people in the community are white and in the middle class. Many of them are retired workers from either Honeywell or 3 M. The main event affecting this program in the next five years is the aging of the Baby Boomers.

This generation has always been very active and vital. As they age they will want to continue this. As research continues to find more and more benefits to staying active as you age, programs like this will become more and more prevalent. Even now, age is not viewed necessarily as a time to slow down as it once was.

People who now realize the importance of an exercise routine in their daily lives will want to carry this into their senior years and this program is an excellent way of doing just that..