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New Programs* for Seniors in the City
• Tai Chi, Tax Filing, Adult Day Care, Exercise
Saturday,
January 15, 2011
Margate’s Northwest Focal Point Senior Center is rolling out new programs for seniors in the area looking to enhance quality of life.
Starting this month, Tai Chi (Tai chi chuan), an ancient Chinese system of exercise and martial arts meditation ideally suited to the senior lifestyle.
Help with tax returns starts in February and Adult Day Care is available immediately for seniors 60 and over. Click here for details.
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The Center also has openings in their exercise class, which come with a fee, but are worth every penny, said Center Director, Kelly Diaz.
“We lost a few participants in the class because we have to charge for it now and a lot of people don’t want to pay for the service. But many [not all] qualify for assistance, making it $18 a month for three times a week, which is a pretty good,” she said.
Though Focal Point is supported largely by public sources, some programs require participants to chip in here and there to keep services intact - as funding shrinks in a still struggling economy.
Is a $1.50 a session for supervised professional instruction, a rigorous workout and constructive interaction with friends and new faces a lot of money?
Less than the price of a cup of coffee.
More importantly, the benefits of exercise for seniors should not be overlooked.
According to MedicineNet.com, muscle mass can increase at any age in response to exercise. One study conducted among a group of Boston seniors ages 72 to 98 (average age 87) showed an almost three percent increase in muscle mass after exercising three times a week for 10 weeks.
Walking speed increased by 12 percent and leg strength a “whopping 113 percent” reports the study.
In a similar study, this time with seniors ages 65 to 79, lifting leg weights three times a week for three months resulted in a 38 percent boost in walking endurance.
Ida Weiss, a 91-year-old participant in the Boston study, said the following after the study:
"It's very beneficial for me. Things that I couldn't do when I came here, I can do now. I didn't think that I was going to live anymore, but I feel different now," as published in Medicine.net.
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*Programs are administered by the City of Margate and supported under an agreement with the Florida Department of Elder Affairs and the Area Agency on Aging of Broward County, Inc., through the Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended and Florida’s Community Care for the Elderly. Matching funds are provided locally through donations and contributions with assistance by the Seniors Foundation of NW Broward, Inc. For more information call Focal Point at (954) 973-0300.
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