Are you an energetic, wholesome senior searching for friends to get out and be part of a stroll, however don’t have these connections? Perhaps you probably did, however within the wake of the pandemic, haven’t reconnected?
The brand new 12 months 2024 has introduced a option to get out, transfer round, meet new folks, and choose the mind of some medical professionals whereas getting re-familiar with among the best and best types of train—strolling.
“Stroll With a Doc” debuted Monday in Celebration. On every second Monday of the month for the foreseeable future, Lydia Rivera, a recently-retired licensed nurse practitioner of 40 years, Celebration resident, and AARP Florida volunteer will lead a free month-to-month stroll of as much as a mile, whereas offering way of life, diet, sleep, and different recommendation on present well being matters.
“I’m excited to be part of the Celebration neighborhood taking this step towards higher well being,” Rivera mentioned. “Research have proven stress and despair double the consequences of dementia, and train can reverse that. We don’t need folks to be remoted, so this generally is a time for folks to attach with their neighborhood whereas doing it and having enjoyable.”
In a world the place healthcare is just not essentially accessible to all, the month-to-month occasion is a chance for residents to collect as a neighborhood and take steps to construct an energetic, wholesome way of life as they age, Rivera mentioned. She famous the inspiration for it got here on her personal neighborhood walks.
“Once I stroll I see folks, by themselves of their properties, they usually really feel so remoted. One thing like it is a option to invite them out,” she mentioned. “Ageing in isolation is just not wholesome. My mom simply handed away at 94, and at 93 she was nonetheless actively strolling.”
AARP, previously the American Affiliation of Retired Individuals — it isn’t only for retirement-age folks — is dedicated to rising its footprint in Osceola County, and is utilizing the month-to-month occasion as outreach. Yazmin Alfonso, additionally a Celebration resident, the Affiliate State Director of Outreach at AARP Orlando, a coordinator behind Stroll with a Doc — and Rivera’s daughter — can be working to collaborating wholesome growing older efforts in Osceola County.
About two dozen walkers, some with grandchildren in tow — and one with their canine — braved a little bit of a cold breeze and gray skies Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. to kick off the initiative, and take a stroll via a quiet Celebration neighborhood.
Stroll With a Doc initiatives began in Columbus, Ohio in 2005, and lately got here to Tampa and Miami. Alfonso mentioned it’s all a part of engagement in Osceola County and making the realm’s seniors conscious of wholesome alternatives.
“With this occasion, we did outreach teams with seniors in Celebration member teams. Once I realized we may begin an initiative right here, I knew there’d already be a relationship, now we simply hope to get others to come back out.”
The subsequent Stroll with a Doc in Celebration is scheduled for Feb. 12, and dates via 2024 are listed on the occasion’s web site (https:// walkwithadoc.org/join-a-walk/places/celebration-fl/). The occasion leaves from the occasion pavilion at 221 Celebration Boulevard — simply present up, park, fill out the waiver, lace up and head out. A particular March occasion on March 11 shall be held on the Osceola Council on Ageing.