NIU students keep
Oak Crest seniors moving

by Mark McGowan

Molly Hauswald shifts the blue, plastic, circular maze with her feet, causing the red ball to roll around the round hallways and through the small passages toward the bull’s-eye center.

Turns out Hauswald’s an old pro who usually requires less than a minute to maneuver the ball from the bottom of the outside rung to the hole in the middle.

“Finally!” she sputters after each victory, seemingly frustrated that the not-so-easy task took more than a few seconds.

Hauswald, a feisty 94, promptly asks the NIU student kneeling beside her chair to return the ball to its starting position, her feet still rocking the maze from side to side.

Left, right, left, right, left, right. Another quick success.

“Finally!” Hauswald says again.

The long-retired physical education teacher from Sycamore is one of 50 active residents of Oak Crest Retirement Center who exercise in the facility’s basement with the help of 20 students from the NIU Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education.

NIU kinesiology professor Pamela “Pommy” Macfarlane wanders the makeshift gym like the amiable owner of a posh restaurant meanders through the tables, calling all the seniors by name, stopping to offer encouragement and occasionally engaging them in exercise.

“Okay, shut your eyes now. Use the ankles to balance. Hold it, hold it. Good job,” she cheers one. “Go, go! Just two more reps, all the way up. Good!” she encourages another.

Macfarlane has operated this 15-year-old program since 1999, modeling it after observing a balance clinic in California and after implementing an 18-week program in her native South Africa.

Its focus includes balance challenges, walking skills and strength.

Mobility is emphasized because older adults lose strength and balance, putting them at risk for all activities. Mobility training can restore some loss and stop further deterioration, allowing an active and safe lifestyle. Heart-healthy and flexibility activities also are included but are secondary because mobility is necessary for such exercise.

The average age of the seniors is 86.

“This is completely unique. Most places have group exercise, but there’s not another program in the country with one-on-one attention,” Macfarlane says. “We’re minimizing their risk of falling, and they’re in much better shape if something does go wrong. They’re able to come back, and we’ve got the facilities to help people come back.”

Oak Crest funds a graduate assistantship and provides the facility while Macfarlane’s department provides the program administration, equipment and supervision of the students who are earning academic credit for their three hours of weekly participation.

Many of the students are working on bachelor’s degrees in kinesiology and exercise physiology and are destined for careers in prevention and rehabilitation as well as athletic training. The program also welcomes NIU gerontology students, who learn the ropes from kinesiology majors before starting individual work with the seniors.

The program won the 2003 Excellence in Programming Award from the Council on Aging and Adult Development of the American Association for Active Lifestyles and Fitness in recognition of programs promoting, advocating and encouraging physical fitness, wellness and the importance of seniors remaining active throughout their lives.

Once an Oak Crest senior signs up to participate, which is voluntary, a letter is sent his or her doctor seeking clearance – something Macfarlane finds a bit ironic.

“You should have to get a doctor’s permission to remain sedentary,” she says.

The seniors pedal stationary bikes, jog on treadmills, raise their legs, stand from a sitting position, throw, bounce and catch balls, shoot basketballs, pitch horseshoes, walk on their heels, walk on their tip-toes, walk along two-by-four boards, pull weights down from above and push weights ahead of their chests.

Some seniors work directly with NIU students while others work out independently.

Dave Grossman, a graduate student who oversees the NIU contingent two days a week, believes the work is vital and beneficial to both sides.

“We have a lot more of this age group in America. Programs like this need to be delivered. It’s making their lives longer, better and more comfortable,” Grossman says. “Daily activity helps them with getting out of the bath tub, or getting out of the bed or the chair. These are things they can apply.”

Good socialization also bridges the generations, he said.

“The seniors say, ‘We love it when the students are here.’ They love to talk about what’s going on, current events,” he says. “The students are taking in a lot of history and getting good practical experience. You can’t get any more hands on than this.”

Charlie Bradt, 99, has been coming to the basement for five or six years.

“I hope it’ll help me physically. It’s helping my arm muscles,” Bradt says. “I have a new knee, and I exercise to keep the other knee up with it.”

For Shirley Chaney, the availability of the NIU program “forces me to exercise.”

“I have had a stroke, and I just fell recently,” she says, pointing to a bruise on her leg. “But here I have a lot of support. I have to exercise, and I’ve got someone who knows what they’re doing.”

The NIU-directed exercise is “the best program we’ve ever had the good fortune to be involved in,” says Stephen Cichy, executive director of Oak Crest.

Prospective residents are attracted to Oak Crest by the chance to exercise under supervision and to interact with fellow residents and college students, adds Liz Hoppenworth, director of resident services.

“It’s a very rewarding program for our residents, a very rewarding program for the students who have participated and, overall, very good for the center,” Cichy says. “It’s helped our residents to be able to live their life to the fullest. They’ve been able to maintain and improve their strength and abilities as well as their outlook on life.”

9-29-03