Seniors Start Six Week Journey toward Wellness

Over a dozen seniors and their family members gathered in Silver Spring this week for the first meeting of a workshop dedicated to helping the seniors of Montgomery County manage chronic diseases.

The Springvale Terrance Retirement Community in collaboration with Holy Cross Hospital is sponsoring “Coping: A Journey to Living Well,” a six-week course designed to help seniors and their families learn ways to cope with chronic pain and other symptoms associated with chronic diseases with the goal of enjoying a healthier life.  Although hosted by the retirement community, participation is open to the outside community as well.

“This is not a typical support group,” said Kim Colley, Coordinator of the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program at Holy Cross Hospital. “It is evidence based and participants are given tools so they can ultimately manage their pain.”

Based upon research conducted at Stanford University, the workshop is led every Monday by non-health care professionals who have chronic diseases themselves. The leaders have had four-day training on proven coping strategies and management tools they can share with workshop participants.  Participants are then given homework during the weeks between sessions to study materials and make personal goals with the assistance of their leaders on working toward reducing some of their pain. 

Shiree Fenelon, Resident Service Coordinator at Springvale Terrance Retirement Community, is hopeful that the program will have a positive impact on the residents.

“I think it will give them a better understanding of how to cope with these chronic diseases such as osteoarthritis and depression. It will give them a better coping mechanism and information on food that can help them with lowering the pain,” said Fenelon.

For the next six weeks participants will be taught ways to meditate to alleviate stress, aerobic exercise tips to help strengthen their bodies, and general dietary advice that can help reduce pain. They are also given communication strategies to better inform both spouses and physicians about their chronic pain. For more specific medical inquires, the leaders of the workshop will ask participants to consult their primary care physician.

Funding for the class was given to Holy Cross from a grant filtered through the Maryland Department of Aging. The hospital is responsible for conducting these workshops throughout Montgomery County and will sponsor about 13 this year.

Each workshop ends with an evaluation of the six-week program and Kim Colley said one of the greatest results of these workshops are the personal goals participants achieve.

“The bottom line is self-management and taking control of chronic disease,” said Colley.

The Springvale Terrance workshop will happen every Monday for the next 5 weeks excluding  the July 4^th holiday. Registration is currently open to all until the second class next Monday.