Defining Healthy Aging as an Opportunity [Podcast Series]
[:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Paige Denison
Paige Denison is Director of Health, Wellness and Project Enhance at Sound Generations.
[1:18] Inspiration for focus on healthy aging
“What I get to focus on every day in my job is supporting older adults in being more physically active and fall prevention, and just everything they can do to avoid functional decline. I mean that's really what I do. It's great work, and I feel so blessed to do it.”
[3:15] Bridging the gap between research and practice
“So that work that's really embedded in the community informs what the researchers do, so that it doesn't sit on the shelf, right?, but it's actually happening in the world. So that's what I do. I sit in between the two and kind of an information conduit between them.”
[5:02] Preventing falls
“Here's the thing about falls that makes me so passionate about it. I mean, they don't have to happen, right? For a lot of things they cause, the human cost, the healthcare cost, the cost to our communities, to families, to caregivers, and preventing them is very, very doable. So I think we need, and we have been working steadily on changing the narrative around falls not being inevitable, because people have felt like they're an inevitable part of aging.”
[9:52] Defining evidence-based exercise programming
“So when I'm using the term evidence-based in connection to a health promotion, fall prevention program, group exercise program, like EnhanceFitness, it basically means that it's tested, published and proven.”
[15:48] Describing EnhanceFitness
“It should feel fun and social when you walk in. It really should. It feels very much like a group exercise class. It is a chronic disease management prevention class, right?”
[18:22] Defining healthy aging
“So I think in my work, it's those evidence-based solutions every day making life more fulfilling and more connected and joyful. Aging is really an opportunity, and not everybody gets it. So I think that's where I, where I land.”
[21:26] Tips for fitness professionals working with older adults
“Do you want to be able to confidently climb to the nosebleed seats to watch your grandchild swing a bat in a ball game? Or do you want to be like, I can't go because I, and there's a reality check there, but we can always aim for being able to walk those steps, do those sit-to-stands, all those things that we can do to hold on to our physicality. And so, but that would really be, I mean, that's my one big tip, is really listening to people and seeing what's important for them.”
