April 26, 2024 • 22 mins
Trae Turner, Chief of Community Living and Michelle Bailey, Wellness Coordinator, with the Ohio District 5 Area Agency On Aging, talks on the latest podcast about healthy living as people age. The Area Agency has many wonderful programs like a free workshop called "Tai Chi for Arthritis and Prevention, Matter of Balance, DEEP, Active Living and many more.
Learn about all of the wonderful work the organization does in the 9 county region in the latest episode of the Age with us, podcast series.
Learn about all of the wonderful work the organization does in the 9 county region in the latest episode of the Age with us, podcast series.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to our special podcast with theArea Agency on Aging. Our guests today,
Trey Turner, chief of Community Living, and Michelle Bailey, Wellness Coordinator,
thank you both for being here.Appreciate it. Thanks for having us.
We've got a lot of great thingsto talk about, because it's never
too late to learn how to behealthy. And I'm stealing that from you,
guys. I love that phrasing verymuch. Trey will start with you.
(00:22):
Tell me why is it so importantas we get older we try extra
hard to stay healthy. Yeah,Matt, thanks so much for having us
today. You know, as anArea agency, we really believe that we
are starting point for just connecting seniorswith services and supports that can help them
stay safe and healthy and in thecommunity. You know, wellness and those
programs that we offer at the agencyare really an important factor in that.
(00:46):
We know that nearly fifty six millionAmericans are sixty five and older and those
projections only continue to increase into thefuture with that group continuing to grow.
And so you know, for mostorder adults, good health insurans and dependance
and security and just productivity as theyage. And so you know, that's
our goal to allow people to livethose years just feeling really good and feeling
(01:10):
empowered to be able to do so. But unfortunately, you know, millions
struggle every day and have challenges withchronic disease and falls and impact that physical
activity, and so we just feelit's really important to be able to focus
on helping them age healthy. Let'stalk about a few of the things like
what impacts health. We've got nutrition, and we got an exercise. Mental
(01:30):
health is a factor. Social isolationcertainly one environment having the home just be
well set up right for an agingadult. But one of our first major
topics to cover today chronic diseases.And I know this as members of my
family get older, there seems tobe declining health. Yeah, you're right,
(01:53):
I mean, I think you hiton a lot of important factors there.
I mean, we know as anagency working in the space that chronic
des diseases can you know, drasticallylimit somebody's ability to perform daily activities,
can cause them to lose their independenceand really just even result in a need
for institutional care and in home caregiversand other long term services and supports.
(02:14):
And so you know, we recognizethat if we can be proactive and intervene
that many times we can you know, prevent those things from happening. There's
a time and a place for them. But we know most seniors want to
age in their home and in thecommunity, and so we want to focus
on that, and you know,unfortunately most seniors, you know, there's
a lot of seniors that have multiplechronic diseases, and you know data shows
(02:37):
that that accounts for actually like twothirds of all health care cost and so
you know that impacts medicare spending,and so the more that we can be
proactive and just help people be independent, it really is a win for them.
It's a win for the community andoverall the health care system. When
we're talking about chronic diseases, whatfalls under that we got diabetes, our
(02:58):
theright is heart diseases, and thisis a fascinating stat. Nearly ninety five
percent have at least one chronic condition. Nearly eighty percent have two or more.
This is would you even consider thisa crisis? You know, as
seniors continue to live longer, whichis great, I think that we're blessed,
you know, with wonderful healthcare andwe've come a long way with just
(03:21):
innovation and how we're treating individuals tobe able to live longer, but with
that, you know, in manycases does come more chronic disease, and
you're trying to balance, you know, how to best meet those needs.
So I think that that's why thistopic is even more important than ever is,
because people are just living longer andwith more complex situations. Let's have
(03:42):
Michelle step in here. Michelle,what is the agency doing to help some
of our older citizens with these chronicdiseases. Well, we have a robust
wellness program and we try to buildon that every year by adding new programs.
We're stepping in at the point wherepeople are figuring out out. You
know, Hey, I've been diagnosedwith diabetes and I don't know how to
(04:03):
manage this. They're having trouble findingresources within the community. They can call
us up and we have great programsthat can help lead them or even their
caregivers. We have caregivers that arecaring for people with multiple chronic conditions that
actually attend our wellness classes as away to help their loved ones. You
have a program, and I'm abig fan of acronyms deep yeah, Diabetes
(04:26):
Empowerment Education Program. Can you tellme more about that. Yes, that's
one of our most popular diabetes programs. So it's actually a workshop that uses
hands on tools to show people theeffects of diabetes. It seems like when
we can show people hands on whatdiabetes the havoc it's wrecking in their bodies,
we can initiate some behavior changes asfar as what they're in taking into
(04:48):
their body physically through food. Maybeit's a lack of exercise. They don't
have that motivation. So through allthese tools that we use, we hope
to motivate people to take arg oftheir health and really get their diabetes under
control. It's Michelle Bailey, Wellnesscoordinator with the Area Agency on Aging also
with its Trade Turner, Chief ofCommunity Living. Let's jump right into another
(05:13):
hazard, if you will. Fallscertainly a symptom of getting older, and
a lot of things contribute to that, Trey, What can you tell us
about falls, what's at risk andhow you guys are addressing it. Falls
are data just tells us that morethan one out of four older adults are
going to you know, fall eachyear, and you know three million adults
(05:35):
sixty five and older are treated inthe emergency departments for unintentional falls and injuries.
Each year as a result of falls, every eleven seconds, we know
an older adult is treated again inthe emergency room, and so it's actually
the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among our older adults. And
so if we can focus on beingable to identify early on again, I
(05:59):
think you know, the key toall these are being proactive. One of
the things we didn't mention with alot of our wellness programs that I think
is important is being able to connectwith seniors sometimes in a non threatening or
non healthcare type setting. And Ithink that's so important because many seniors are
intimidated, maybe things get to aplace where they've escalated to now they found
(06:20):
theirself in a position where they haveto go there. Our goal is to
connect and offer these in the communitywhere they live, where they go every
day. And so I think thatif we can do that in a non
threatening way with Michelle and her teamand volunteers in the community that teach these
workshops, such as our false preventionworkshops, sometimes a senior just received that
(06:40):
a little better. Let's talk aboutwhere these programs take place. We'll jump
right in there, because you're talkingabout a non threatening situation. Michelle,
we do this. Where where isyour office and what area do you serve?
We serve nine counties actually with ourwellness programs, So we go to
a lot of what we call focalpoints, are senior centers in our outlying
(07:00):
counties and we actually do some atour agency as well. So our nine
counties are Richland, Ashland, Crawford, Hereon, Knox, Marion, morro
Seneca, and Wyandott. So wego to libraries, we go to senior
centers, we will go anywhere.We have senior housing complexes that we'll go
(07:23):
to. We want to take theseclasses to the community. It doesn't always
involve them coming to us, soto speak. As a nation, we
spend fifty billion dollars a year treatingolder adults for the effects of false That
is staggering, Tray, it is. I mean, really when you think
about the impact you know, financially, when you think about the seniors that
(07:44):
in many cases you know, otherthan a fall and what that can lead
to, you know, they wouldhave the ability to live independent and in
the community. And so you know, I think again, to be proactive
and to be able to connect withthese seniors and be able to make some
you know, minor modification to theirliving space, to the way that they
get around in their home and youknow, function in the community. If
(08:05):
we can make some minor changes andprovide education and again just help them remain
strong and healthy. The impacts arereally just so significant. And how that
can prevent you know, more seniorsfrom falling in that number that you're talking
about. And another thing that's notsurprising though, is that the fear of
(08:26):
falling can lead older adults to limittheir activities. Maybe they've fallen and they
don't want it to happen again.Maybe they're listening to us right now and
think, well, I better beextra careful. I'm not going to do
anything to get myself in a situationwhere I might fall. These are some
of the things you address too,right, Yes, we do. And
I can give you multiple stories ofpeople that attend our class that maybe have
(08:48):
stopped going to social activities. Theyhave grandchildren, they've missed football and basketball
games for the fear of going upthe bleachers say. And it's amazing when
we get through the class, howwe have brainstormed the social interaction within these
classes where they learn from each other. Hey, I still go to sporting
events. Here's how I do it, and I do it safely. We
(09:09):
like to tell people we don't lookat what we can't do, we just
change how we do it. Yeah, that's really good. And I was
just going to add too, Ithink, to tie into what Michelle said.
You know, sometimes we just needreminded of what to do. You
know. I thought it was interesting, Matt when we were looking at a
study, you know, kind oflooking at our wellness programs and why these
are so important. You know,there was a study that was conducted that
(09:30):
found that twenty eight percent of adultsthat are aged fifty and over surveyed reported
no physical activity aside from the regularjob over a month, you know timeframe.
And so I think it's just,you know, we can get in
a routine, we can get laxed, and I think that's one of the
benefits of what our programs offers.Sometimes it's just that reminder that, you
know, we need to keep ourmobility, we need to keep our health
(09:52):
a priority and a focus, sothat we can just hone in on,
you know, not letting ourselves getto that point. That segue nicely into
physical activity, and you guys havesome wonderful programs that provide an opportunity to
not only learn how to do theexercise, but actually implement that into their
lives. You want to start withtaichi. I can only picture some of
(10:16):
my older relatives doing those moves.I know we're on radio, but I'm
doing a little tai chi here inthe studio. Tell us about it,
Michelle, Actually tai chi. Wehave a waiting list for Taichi, that's
how popular it is. It's thetai chi program that is for arthritis and
false prevention, so all the movementsare slow and fluid. Anybody with any
(10:37):
physical activity level at all can performtai chi. It is such a great
program. I had a ninety twoyear old in the first class getting Yes,
ninety two year old, and sheloved it, loved it, said
when is the next one? I'mcoming back? And that's what's great about
these programs. They end up lovingwhat they're doing, and in a group
setting like that that they just wantto keep going. You can't hold them
(11:01):
down. Once they get started,you can't hold them down, and it
impacts their life in such a greatway. We had one gentleman that came
that was afraid to even check hismail, and after the class, because
he had begun to move and hegained confidence in himself, he reported that
he's now checking his mail. Imean, we don't think about things that
really are fearful for people. Peopleare scared and it just snowball and before
(11:26):
they know it, they're sitting ina chair for twenty hours a day and
it's affecting their health negatively. Sowe the purpose of our programs is try
to kind of combat some of that. Matter of Balance is an older false
prevention program that the agency has actuallybeen doing for almost twenty years. It
is a proven false prevention resource.It continues to be so popular. I
(11:48):
say that I could hold these everymonth and have a filled class. So
it's also about making simple changes.The other great thing when you attend a
class, we're listening to you,listening to your concerns. We're listening to
what you're struggling with. And evenif we can't meet that need within the
class structure, we have so manyresources we can pull on. You know,
(12:09):
if it's you can't get out becauseyou have steps you can't get down,
we have resources that can help provideramps. There's just so much that
as an agency we can do,and attending a wellness class may be the
first thing to get those resources foryou. That's really good. I'm glad
that Michelle, that you hit onthat because I think that's the importance too.
It's you know, we're providing Ithink you know, these are evidence
(12:30):
based workshops. So these aren't justclasses that you know, somebody that's passionate
about wellness just said, hey,we're going to do a little bit of
exercise and share a few things.I mean, these are these are actually
evidence based programs that have been testedand proven and replicated really all costs the
country. And I think another importantpiece is it's just what Michelle shared that
you know, her and the teamthat do these at the area agency,
(12:50):
they're also very versed in the otherservices and supports that we offer, and
so we're able to connect seniors withthat next step or that tangible resources that
might help them actually you know,hag on to what they've learned and maybe
there's some other barriers and things thatyou know, have been identified that are
still limiting. We can connect themwith tangible resources to help them stay independent.
(13:13):
We are talking with the Area Agencyon Aging, which represents nine North
central Ohio counties. Michelle Bailey WellnessCoordinator, Trade Turner, chief of Community
Living Trade is a registered ur.So I'll ask you when it comes to
putting together these programs, do youhave guidance from medical professionals? Yeah,
So typically in an evidence based youknow workshop, there are medical you know
(13:35):
professionals, experts that have been pulledin that are really looking at best practices,
they're pulling data, they're looking atoutcomes, and so typically, you
know, when these things are puttogether, they're and Michelle is definitely more
of the expert on this, buttypically, you know, workshops might range
from you know, six to eightweeks, and so you know, there's
a lot of study and research behindthe exact you know why that long why
(14:00):
you know, how our class isgoing to be most impactful when they're delivered
upon and so definitely tested. Shehad shared, you know, some of
these we've been doing for a verylong time because they work, because they've
been super effective. Others, youknow, we listen, we look at
gaps in the community, We listento the seniors. They tell us what
you know, they enjoy and sowe try to make sure that it's a
(14:20):
healthy balance between you know, alot of learning and again that that evidence
based component, but we also recognizethat they need to be fun, they
need to be very engaging. Wefound that having the right coaches involved,
whether they're volunteers, are our staffthat bring the right energy, that bring
the right support, that that isall important to the overall experience. Do
(14:41):
you kind of ease these older residentsinto the program? It's not just like
everybody show up on Thursday at twoo'clock in the afternoon and where your tai
chie gear. You kind of easeinto it, don't you, Michelle.
Yeah, there's I don't want tocall it a lecture, but there's instruction
that we give. So we followa program because one thing builds onto another,
(15:03):
so we like with matter of Balance, we don't even begin the exercises
until the third session and those aredone in a chair, So we ease
people into things. No, noone needs to be worried that you're gonna
come and it's going to be likeyou know, some of the eighties dancing
around classes. That's not the wayit is. And the other good thing
about our classes is they're customizable,we have people that don't have a huge
(15:26):
amount of mobility, but they canstill do something. That's another thing.
A slogan that we have is everyonecan move in some kind of way safely.
So it might be maybe your legsdon't work the way you want them
to, but you can sit ina chair and move your arms. With
us, everybody is made to feela part no matter of their physical limitations.
(15:48):
What do you do to help themovercome the fear of just getting out
of the house and come into yourprogram, Well, we tell them that
they're going to have a lot ofsupport there. We have seniors that attend
a lot of our programs and they'realways very welcoming to new seniors that haven't
attended before. Our staff is alwayswelcoming. We try to treat everybody at
our agency when they walk in thefront door as if we've known them all
(16:11):
of our lives. So we tryto just make people feel comfortable. If
we see someone that's kind of strugglingwith that social aspect, we try to
connect them with someone else in theclass that can kind of be a buddy
to them and say, hey,I want you to come back next week.
I'll be right here you can sitwith me. What do you do
for transportation concerns? Is there away you can help some of your clients
get there? Absolutely, the agencyhas a transportation program we can facilitate that.
(16:36):
We want to take away the barriersof helping people to move and prevent
falls and to be able to livesafely in their homes. It's all about
active living every day right. Yes, that's one of our newer programs as
well. And this is for peoplethat maybe they have the physical ability to
be active, but they don't havethe drive or the want to. So
this is kind of like a coachingprogram where I'm going to call you every
(16:59):
week can say, Okay, yourgoal last week was that you were going
to walk three or four days thisweek. Did you do it? If
you didn't, why can we talkabout that? What can I do to
help you to spur you on toget this movement and regain some of your
mobility. So a lot of peoplehave been taking advantage of that because they
just want that accountability. That isa safe place to have accountability. And
(17:22):
for folks who may not have computeraccess, how can we find your programs?
How can we find out what's happening? When if you have access to
Facebook, we put those on there, so that's one avenue. And not
everybody has social media. You canalways call into our agency and we'll give
you the contact info for that.You can check our website. But of
(17:44):
course you're saying, if you don'thave Internet, the best thing for you
to do is just call. Yeah, call in. Well, they'll they'll
route you. They know, thefront desk knows our programs. We'll get
you what you need. Yeah,and you can actually call our agency.
That number's four one nine five twofour four one four four Again that's four
one nine five two four or onefour to four and light Michelle shared,
(18:07):
I mean we have our website whichis www dot AAA. The number five
Ohio Ohio dot o RG. Again, that's ww dot AAA, five Ohio
dot o RG. And so callus, visit our website, just find
out more about these And I thinkyou hit on a very important part is
(18:30):
you know this is for everyone,and so we'll meet you where you're at.
We'll make sure that you're comfortable andthat you can take advantage of these
workshops. Is there any cost,No, there's absolutely no cost of the
individual. And so as an areaagency We receive state and federal funding that
helps support these programs, and sothat's what allows us to train coaches,
(18:51):
that's what allows us to conduct theseworkshops. And so to the individual sixty
and older, there's no cost tothem to participate. Our guests today,
Trey Turner, chief of Community Livingwith the Area Agency on Aging and Wellness
Coordinator Michelle Bailey Trey, it's morethan just the programs that we outline today.
(19:11):
So much going on in the ninecounties that you serve. Tell us
about it. Yeah, they're sure, are Matt and I may have to
take a couple of breasts to getall this in because we do a lot.
But the people eligible for our servicesor older adults, you know,
we serve individuals with some programs underthe age of sixty. I know the
wellness programs that we're talking about todayare for the sixty and older. But
(19:32):
you know, we always tell individualsthat we serve birth to death, and
so if you're not sure if youqualify, you know, for a program
or service, the best thing todo is call. We serve individuals with
disabilities, We serve caregivers, asMichelle talked about, you know, grandparents
raising grandchildren. That continues to bea growing need, and so we are
serving those individuals as well. Andso what that looks like in the way
(19:52):
of what we provide with services andsupports, you know, this definitely won't
be an exhaustive complete list, butpersonal care transportation, we offer prescription drug
assistants, whole medical equipment, longterm care planning, alternative housing options,
home delivered meals, homemaking, safetymonitoring, respite chore. We have volunteer
(20:17):
opportunities, you know, for peoplethat just want to again, you know,
just be engaged and add value wherethey can. We have those volunteer
opportunities. One of the things thatwe've really been focused on over the last
year or two is around vaccine information, Michelle hit on home modifications and home
repair. We have home energy assistanceprograms. Of course, our wellness classes
(20:40):
that we've been talking about today thatwe're really excited about, and again just
some caregiver support. And so Iknow that's a lot of information. What
we tell people in the community allthe time is, you know, don't
assume that you don't qualify, don'tassume that you don't fit a service or
program. The best thing you cando is call, and we'll connect you
(21:00):
with not only those immediate needs,but those sustainable long term services supports that
will help you age in place.Michelle, anything you'd like to add,
We're here to help and we wantthe community to know. Like Trey said,
if we don't know the answer,we can find it. Even if
the resource doesn't lie within us,we can go out and find it for
you because we just want to help. That's our mission, that's our goal
(21:22):
in the community is to meet theneeds of the people. The Area Agency
on Aging. That's Ohio District fiveright, serving nine north central Ohio counties,
which are again Ashland, Crawford,Huron, Knox, Marion, Morrow,
Richland, Seneca, and Wyandotte counties. I think we got them all
in nine counties. I'm certain thatthere are some people in every one of
(21:47):
those counties that's listening to this podcasttoday. Trey Turner, chief of Community
Living, and Michelle Bailey, wellnesscoordinator from the Area Agency on Aging.
Thank you both. Matt, thankyou your team for allowing us to get
this information out of the community.Thank you
Welcome to our special podcast with theArea Agency on Aging. Our guests today,
Trey Turner, chief of Community Living, and Michelle Bailey, Wellness Coordinator,
thank you both for being here.Appreciate it. Thanks for having us.
We've got a lot of great thingsto talk about, because it's never
too late to learn how to behealthy. And I'm stealing that from you,
guys. I love that phrasing verymuch. Trey will start with you.
(00:22):
Tell me why is it so importantas we get older we try extra
hard to stay healthy. Yeah,Matt, thanks so much for having us
today. You know, as anArea agency, we really believe that we
are starting point for just connecting seniorswith services and supports that can help them
stay safe and healthy and in thecommunity. You know, wellness and those
programs that we offer at the agencyare really an important factor in that.
(00:46):
We know that nearly fifty six millionAmericans are sixty five and older and those
projections only continue to increase into thefuture with that group continuing to grow.
And so you know, for mostorder adults, good health insurans and dependance
and security and just productivity as theyage. And so you know, that's
our goal to allow people to livethose years just feeling really good and feeling
(01:10):
empowered to be able to do so. But unfortunately, you know, millions
struggle every day and have challenges withchronic disease and falls and impact that physical
activity, and so we just feelit's really important to be able to focus
on helping them age healthy. Let'stalk about a few of the things like
what impacts health. We've got nutrition, and we got an exercise. Mental
(01:30):
health is a factor. Social isolationcertainly one environment having the home just be
well set up right for an agingadult. But one of our first major
topics to cover today chronic diseases.And I know this as members of my
family get older, there seems tobe declining health. Yeah, you're right,
(01:53):
I mean, I think you hiton a lot of important factors there.
I mean, we know as anagency working in the space that chronic
des diseases can you know, drasticallylimit somebody's ability to perform daily activities,
can cause them to lose their independenceand really just even result in a need
for institutional care and in home caregiversand other long term services and supports.
(02:14):
And so you know, we recognizethat if we can be proactive and intervene
that many times we can you know, prevent those things from happening. There's
a time and a place for them. But we know most seniors want to
age in their home and in thecommunity, and so we want to focus
on that, and you know,unfortunately most seniors, you know, there's
a lot of seniors that have multiplechronic diseases, and you know data shows
(02:37):
that that accounts for actually like twothirds of all health care cost and so
you know that impacts medicare spending,and so the more that we can be
proactive and just help people be independent, it really is a win for them.
It's a win for the community andoverall the health care system. When
we're talking about chronic diseases, whatfalls under that we got diabetes, our
(02:58):
theright is heart diseases, and thisis a fascinating stat. Nearly ninety five
percent have at least one chronic condition. Nearly eighty percent have two or more.
This is would you even consider thisa crisis? You know, as
seniors continue to live longer, whichis great, I think that we're blessed,
you know, with wonderful healthcare andwe've come a long way with just
(03:21):
innovation and how we're treating individuals tobe able to live longer, but with
that, you know, in manycases does come more chronic disease, and
you're trying to balance, you know, how to best meet those needs.
So I think that that's why thistopic is even more important than ever is,
because people are just living longer andwith more complex situations. Let's have
(03:42):
Michelle step in here. Michelle,what is the agency doing to help some
of our older citizens with these chronicdiseases. Well, we have a robust
wellness program and we try to buildon that every year by adding new programs.
We're stepping in at the point wherepeople are figuring out out. You
know, Hey, I've been diagnosedwith diabetes and I don't know how to
(04:03):
manage this. They're having trouble findingresources within the community. They can call
us up and we have great programsthat can help lead them or even their
caregivers. We have caregivers that arecaring for people with multiple chronic conditions that
actually attend our wellness classes as away to help their loved ones. You
have a program, and I'm abig fan of acronyms deep yeah, Diabetes
(04:26):
Empowerment Education Program. Can you tellme more about that. Yes, that's
one of our most popular diabetes programs. So it's actually a workshop that uses
hands on tools to show people theeffects of diabetes. It seems like when
we can show people hands on whatdiabetes the havoc it's wrecking in their bodies,
we can initiate some behavior changes asfar as what they're in taking into
(04:48):
their body physically through food. Maybeit's a lack of exercise. They don't
have that motivation. So through allthese tools that we use, we hope
to motivate people to take arg oftheir health and really get their diabetes under
control. It's Michelle Bailey, Wellnesscoordinator with the Area Agency on Aging also
with its Trade Turner, Chief ofCommunity Living. Let's jump right into another
(05:13):
hazard, if you will. Fallscertainly a symptom of getting older, and
a lot of things contribute to that, Trey, What can you tell us
about falls, what's at risk andhow you guys are addressing it. Falls
are data just tells us that morethan one out of four older adults are
going to you know, fall eachyear, and you know three million adults
(05:35):
sixty five and older are treated inthe emergency departments for unintentional falls and injuries.
Each year as a result of falls, every eleven seconds, we know
an older adult is treated again inthe emergency room, and so it's actually
the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among our older adults. And
so if we can focus on beingable to identify early on again, I
(05:59):
think you know, the key toall these are being proactive. One of
the things we didn't mention with alot of our wellness programs that I think
is important is being able to connectwith seniors sometimes in a non threatening or
non healthcare type setting. And Ithink that's so important because many seniors are
intimidated, maybe things get to aplace where they've escalated to now they found
(06:20):
theirself in a position where they haveto go there. Our goal is to
connect and offer these in the communitywhere they live, where they go every
day. And so I think thatif we can do that in a non
threatening way with Michelle and her teamand volunteers in the community that teach these
workshops, such as our false preventionworkshops, sometimes a senior just received that
(06:40):
a little better. Let's talk aboutwhere these programs take place. We'll jump
right in there, because you're talkingabout a non threatening situation. Michelle,
we do this. Where where isyour office and what area do you serve?
We serve nine counties actually with ourwellness programs, So we go to
a lot of what we call focalpoints, are senior centers in our outlying
(07:00):
counties and we actually do some atour agency as well. So our nine
counties are Richland, Ashland, Crawford, Hereon, Knox, Marion, morro
Seneca, and Wyandott. So wego to libraries, we go to senior
centers, we will go anywhere.We have senior housing complexes that we'll go
(07:23):
to. We want to take theseclasses to the community. It doesn't always
involve them coming to us, soto speak. As a nation, we
spend fifty billion dollars a year treatingolder adults for the effects of false That
is staggering, Tray, it is. I mean, really when you think
about the impact you know, financially, when you think about the seniors that
(07:44):
in many cases you know, otherthan a fall and what that can lead
to, you know, they wouldhave the ability to live independent and in
the community. And so you know, I think again, to be proactive
and to be able to connect withthese seniors and be able to make some
you know, minor modification to theirliving space, to the way that they
get around in their home and youknow, function in the community. If
(08:05):
we can make some minor changes andprovide education and again just help them remain
strong and healthy. The impacts arereally just so significant. And how that
can prevent you know, more seniorsfrom falling in that number that you're talking
about. And another thing that's notsurprising though, is that the fear of
(08:26):
falling can lead older adults to limittheir activities. Maybe they've fallen and they
don't want it to happen again.Maybe they're listening to us right now and
think, well, I better beextra careful. I'm not going to do
anything to get myself in a situationwhere I might fall. These are some
of the things you address too,right, Yes, we do. And
I can give you multiple stories ofpeople that attend our class that maybe have
(08:48):
stopped going to social activities. Theyhave grandchildren, they've missed football and basketball
games for the fear of going upthe bleachers say. And it's amazing when
we get through the class, howwe have brainstormed the social interaction within these
classes where they learn from each other. Hey, I still go to sporting
events. Here's how I do it, and I do it safely. We
(09:09):
like to tell people we don't lookat what we can't do, we just
change how we do it. Yeah, that's really good. And I was
just going to add too, Ithink, to tie into what Michelle said.
You know, sometimes we just needreminded of what to do. You
know. I thought it was interesting, Matt when we were looking at a
study, you know, kind oflooking at our wellness programs and why these
are so important. You know,there was a study that was conducted that
(09:30):
found that twenty eight percent of adultsthat are aged fifty and over surveyed reported
no physical activity aside from the regularjob over a month, you know timeframe.
And so I think it's just,you know, we can get in
a routine, we can get laxed, and I think that's one of the
benefits of what our programs offers.Sometimes it's just that reminder that, you
know, we need to keep ourmobility, we need to keep our health
(09:52):
a priority and a focus, sothat we can just hone in on,
you know, not letting ourselves getto that point. That segue nicely into
physical activity, and you guys havesome wonderful programs that provide an opportunity to
not only learn how to do theexercise, but actually implement that into their
lives. You want to start withtaichi. I can only picture some of
(10:16):
my older relatives doing those moves.I know we're on radio, but I'm
doing a little tai chi here inthe studio. Tell us about it,
Michelle, Actually tai chi. Wehave a waiting list for Taichi, that's
how popular it is. It's thetai chi program that is for arthritis and
false prevention, so all the movementsare slow and fluid. Anybody with any
(10:37):
physical activity level at all can performtai chi. It is such a great
program. I had a ninety twoyear old in the first class getting Yes,
ninety two year old, and sheloved it, loved it, said
when is the next one? I'mcoming back? And that's what's great about
these programs. They end up lovingwhat they're doing, and in a group
setting like that that they just wantto keep going. You can't hold them
(11:01):
down. Once they get started,you can't hold them down, and it
impacts their life in such a greatway. We had one gentleman that came
that was afraid to even check hismail, and after the class, because
he had begun to move and hegained confidence in himself, he reported that
he's now checking his mail. Imean, we don't think about things that
really are fearful for people. Peopleare scared and it just snowball and before
(11:26):
they know it, they're sitting ina chair for twenty hours a day and
it's affecting their health negatively. Sowe the purpose of our programs is try
to kind of combat some of that. Matter of Balance is an older false
prevention program that the agency has actuallybeen doing for almost twenty years. It
is a proven false prevention resource.It continues to be so popular. I
(11:48):
say that I could hold these everymonth and have a filled class. So
it's also about making simple changes.The other great thing when you attend a
class, we're listening to you,listening to your concerns. We're listening to
what you're struggling with. And evenif we can't meet that need within the
class structure, we have so manyresources we can pull on. You know,
(12:09):
if it's you can't get out becauseyou have steps you can't get down,
we have resources that can help provideramps. There's just so much that
as an agency we can do,and attending a wellness class may be the
first thing to get those resources foryou. That's really good. I'm glad
that Michelle, that you hit onthat because I think that's the importance too.
It's you know, we're providing Ithink you know, these are evidence
(12:30):
based workshops. So these aren't justclasses that you know, somebody that's passionate
about wellness just said, hey,we're going to do a little bit of
exercise and share a few things.I mean, these are these are actually
evidence based programs that have been testedand proven and replicated really all costs the
country. And I think another importantpiece is it's just what Michelle shared that
you know, her and the teamthat do these at the area agency,
(12:50):
they're also very versed in the otherservices and supports that we offer, and
so we're able to connect seniors withthat next step or that tangible resources that
might help them actually you know,hag on to what they've learned and maybe
there's some other barriers and things thatyou know, have been identified that are
still limiting. We can connect themwith tangible resources to help them stay independent.
(13:13):
We are talking with the Area Agencyon Aging, which represents nine North
central Ohio counties. Michelle Bailey WellnessCoordinator, Trade Turner, chief of Community
Living Trade is a registered ur.So I'll ask you when it comes to
putting together these programs, do youhave guidance from medical professionals? Yeah,
So typically in an evidence based youknow workshop, there are medical you know
(13:35):
professionals, experts that have been pulledin that are really looking at best practices,
they're pulling data, they're looking atoutcomes, and so typically, you
know, when these things are puttogether, they're and Michelle is definitely more
of the expert on this, buttypically, you know, workshops might range
from you know, six to eightweeks, and so you know, there's
a lot of study and research behindthe exact you know why that long why
(14:00):
you know, how our class isgoing to be most impactful when they're delivered
upon and so definitely tested. Shehad shared, you know, some of
these we've been doing for a verylong time because they work, because they've
been super effective. Others, youknow, we listen, we look at
gaps in the community, We listento the seniors. They tell us what
you know, they enjoy and sowe try to make sure that it's a
(14:20):
healthy balance between you know, alot of learning and again that that evidence
based component, but we also recognizethat they need to be fun, they
need to be very engaging. Wefound that having the right coaches involved,
whether they're volunteers, are our staffthat bring the right energy, that bring
the right support, that that isall important to the overall experience. Do
(14:41):
you kind of ease these older residentsinto the program? It's not just like
everybody show up on Thursday at twoo'clock in the afternoon and where your tai
chie gear. You kind of easeinto it, don't you, Michelle.
Yeah, there's I don't want tocall it a lecture, but there's instruction
that we give. So we followa program because one thing builds onto another,
(15:03):
so we like with matter of Balance, we don't even begin the exercises
until the third session and those aredone in a chair, So we ease
people into things. No, noone needs to be worried that you're gonna
come and it's going to be likeyou know, some of the eighties dancing
around classes. That's not the wayit is. And the other good thing
about our classes is they're customizable,we have people that don't have a huge
(15:26):
amount of mobility, but they canstill do something. That's another thing.
A slogan that we have is everyonecan move in some kind of way safely.
So it might be maybe your legsdon't work the way you want them
to, but you can sit ina chair and move your arms. With
us, everybody is made to feela part no matter of their physical limitations.
(15:48):
What do you do to help themovercome the fear of just getting out
of the house and come into yourprogram, Well, we tell them that
they're going to have a lot ofsupport there. We have seniors that attend
a lot of our programs and they'realways very welcoming to new seniors that haven't
attended before. Our staff is alwayswelcoming. We try to treat everybody at
our agency when they walk in thefront door as if we've known them all
(16:11):
of our lives. So we tryto just make people feel comfortable. If
we see someone that's kind of strugglingwith that social aspect, we try to
connect them with someone else in theclass that can kind of be a buddy
to them and say, hey,I want you to come back next week.
I'll be right here you can sitwith me. What do you do
for transportation concerns? Is there away you can help some of your clients
get there? Absolutely, the agencyhas a transportation program we can facilitate that.
(16:36):
We want to take away the barriersof helping people to move and prevent
falls and to be able to livesafely in their homes. It's all about
active living every day right. Yes, that's one of our newer programs as
well. And this is for peoplethat maybe they have the physical ability to
be active, but they don't havethe drive or the want to. So
this is kind of like a coachingprogram where I'm going to call you every
(16:59):
week can say, Okay, yourgoal last week was that you were going
to walk three or four days thisweek. Did you do it? If
you didn't, why can we talkabout that? What can I do to
help you to spur you on toget this movement and regain some of your
mobility. So a lot of peoplehave been taking advantage of that because they
just want that accountability. That isa safe place to have accountability. And
(17:22):
for folks who may not have computeraccess, how can we find your programs?
How can we find out what's happening? When if you have access to
Facebook, we put those on there, so that's one avenue. And not
everybody has social media. You canalways call into our agency and we'll give
you the contact info for that.You can check our website. But of
(17:44):
course you're saying, if you don'thave Internet, the best thing for you
to do is just call. Yeah, call in. Well, they'll they'll
route you. They know, thefront desk knows our programs. We'll get
you what you need. Yeah,and you can actually call our agency.
That number's four one nine five twofour four one four four Again that's four
one nine five two four or onefour to four and light Michelle shared,
(18:07):
I mean we have our website whichis www dot AAA. The number five
Ohio Ohio dot o RG. Again, that's ww dot AAA, five Ohio
dot o RG. And so callus, visit our website, just find
out more about these And I thinkyou hit on a very important part is
(18:30):
you know this is for everyone,and so we'll meet you where you're at.
We'll make sure that you're comfortable andthat you can take advantage of these
workshops. Is there any cost,No, there's absolutely no cost of the
individual. And so as an areaagency We receive state and federal funding that
helps support these programs, and sothat's what allows us to train coaches,
(18:51):
that's what allows us to conduct theseworkshops. And so to the individual sixty
and older, there's no cost tothem to participate. Our guests today,
Trey Turner, chief of Community Livingwith the Area Agency on Aging and Wellness
Coordinator Michelle Bailey Trey, it's morethan just the programs that we outline today.
(19:11):
So much going on in the ninecounties that you serve. Tell us
about it. Yeah, they're sure, are Matt and I may have to
take a couple of breasts to getall this in because we do a lot.
But the people eligible for our servicesor older adults, you know,
we serve individuals with some programs underthe age of sixty. I know the
wellness programs that we're talking about todayare for the sixty and older. But
(19:32):
you know, we always tell individualsthat we serve birth to death, and
so if you're not sure if youqualify, you know, for a program
or service, the best thing todo is call. We serve individuals with
disabilities, We serve caregivers, asMichelle talked about, you know, grandparents
raising grandchildren. That continues to bea growing need, and so we are
serving those individuals as well. Andso what that looks like in the way
(19:52):
of what we provide with services andsupports, you know, this definitely won't
be an exhaustive complete list, butpersonal care transportation, we offer prescription drug
assistants, whole medical equipment, longterm care planning, alternative housing options,
home delivered meals, homemaking, safetymonitoring, respite chore. We have volunteer
(20:17):
opportunities, you know, for peoplethat just want to again, you know,
just be engaged and add value wherethey can. We have those volunteer
opportunities. One of the things thatwe've really been focused on over the last
year or two is around vaccine information, Michelle hit on home modifications and home
repair. We have home energy assistanceprograms. Of course, our wellness classes
(20:40):
that we've been talking about today thatwe're really excited about, and again just
some caregiver support. And so Iknow that's a lot of information. What
we tell people in the community allthe time is, you know, don't
assume that you don't qualify, don'tassume that you don't fit a service or
program. The best thing you cando is call, and we'll connect you
(21:00):
with not only those immediate needs,but those sustainable long term services supports that
will help you age in place.Michelle, anything you'd like to add,
We're here to help and we wantthe community to know. Like Trey said,
if we don't know the answer,we can find it. Even if
the resource doesn't lie within us,we can go out and find it for
you because we just want to help. That's our mission, that's our goal
(21:22):
in the community is to meet theneeds of the people. The Area Agency
on Aging. That's Ohio District fiveright, serving nine north central Ohio counties,
which are again Ashland, Crawford,Huron, Knox, Marion, Morrow,
Richland, Seneca, and Wyandotte counties. I think we got them all
in nine counties. I'm certain thatthere are some people in every one of
(21:47):
those counties that's listening to this podcasttoday. Trey Turner, chief of Community
Living, and Michelle Bailey, wellnesscoordinator from the Area Agency on Aging.
Thank you both. Matt, thankyou your team for allowing us to get
this information out of the community.Thank you
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