St. Anthony’s is home to seniors of all abilities and levels of need, and all of them require different resources and support to stay healthy and physically well throughout life’s next great adventure!
Our passion at St. Anthony’s Nursing Home is to take a holistic approach to wellness that incorporates emotional, social, and spiritual wellness into each resident’s daily routines — And this wellness formula wouldn’t be complete without strong health and fitness programs! Let’s take an inside look at what physical wellness is like for St. Anthony’s residents.
Health and Fitness Programs at St. Anthony’s Nursing Home
To encourage physical wellness as much as possible at St. Anthony’s, we offer a wide variety of programs and resources to help each resident find a fitness style that works best for them. From our fitness center to our physical therapists to group classes curated for each senior living lifestyle, there’s truly something for everyone here!
St. Thomas More Wellness Center
There are many benefits to having a fitness center in a nursing home or senior living facility, and we’ve gone above and beyond to ensure ours has everything our residents need to be in peak physical health! The St. Thomas More Wellness Center provides residents with everything they need to stay in shape and relieve the aches and pains that inevitably come with aging, including:
- Strength training equipment
- Cardio exercise therapy programs
- Group fitness classes
- Professional massages
For new residents or those who haven’t yet explored what our fitness center has to offer, we provide fitness equipment tutorials to ensure everyone can get the most out of the fully-equipped fitness center and avoid injuries from misuse.
On-Staff Physical Therapists
Our bodies undergo many changes as we age, and injuries can become more common from something as simple as falling. Some seniors may deal with other discomfort or mobility limitations due to different ailments, such as arthritis. For this reason, we have physical therapists on staff ready to assist residents with everything from pain management to injury recovery. St. Anthony’s residents love working with our physical therapists to create their own fully customized fitness plans!
Group Exercise Classes
For seniors who enjoy exercising in a group, plenty of classes are available to keep residents moving and grooving! Every exercise class is adaptable to various ability levels, with a number of them incorporating chair exercises to allow for fitness while seated!
Fitness Programs for Independent Living Residents
Independent living residents have full access to the St. Thomas More Wellness Center and all it has to offer, including a couple of special fitness programs made just for these free-spirited residents.
Vitality in Motion
Vitality in Motion is an artistic exercise program designed for seniors. These group workouts are all about celebrating movement and remembering that fitness is best when it’s fun! This class happens every Monday morning so our independent living residents can start the week off with an excellent workout!
Sit N’ Be Fit
Making exercise comfortable and safe for all, Sit N’ Be Fit allows independent living residents to get active while seated. Around once every month, this class is led by Empower Me, after which residents take the lead Tuesdays through Fridays to take ownership of their workout routines.
Fitness Programs for Assisted Living Residents
Residents in assisted living often have more significant physical limitations than those in independent living, which means their physical fitness approach needs to be made even more accessible. Rather than making the trek to the fitness center, assisted living residents enjoy a few different fitness programs together in the assisted living community room.
Chair Exercises
Continuing the theme of accessible and safe workouts, assisted living residents enjoy chair exercises daily to wake up, stretch their bodies, and energize themselves for the day. Chair exercises are the perfect way to help our assisted living residents stay active!
Kickball
Throwing it back to the more sporty, athletic days, assisted living residents love following their chair exercises with a rousing game of seated kickball! This daily activity helps our residents to practice coordination as they try to pass the ball around the circle.
Virtual Workouts
In addition to our daily group exercises, we like to keep things interesting in assisted living with the occasional special fitness activity. Many of these special workouts are done virtually through a Sit N Be Fit video workout or the occasional virtual reality event. In December, we moved our bodies with a fun VR sledding activity that the residents loved!
Fitness Programs for Memory Care Residents
Memory care residents can have a large variety of ability levels. Some of them have less physical difficulties, whereas others experience greater mobility limitations. Our memory care residents are also a very close-knit family, so they enjoy doing their workouts together, so we must keep everything flexible and accessible.
Sit and Be Fit
Another variation on chair exercises, Sit and Be Fit in memory care, is a fun way to start the day that gets residents and memory care staff moving and laughing together.
Moving with Marty
Memory Care residents love it when Marty comes to lead them in an exercise class! He has a fantastic way of bringing variety while keeping the programs accessible to the varying capabilities of each resident, making this class a crowd favorite.
Balloon Toss
Coordination is just as valuable for memory care residents as it is for our other residents, making our balloon toss activity an excellent way to emulate kickball at a slowed pace and without the need for leg mobility.
Get in Shape with Us at St. Anthony’s Nursing Home!
St. Anthony’s isn’t your typical nursing home — We’re a senior living community and care facility that is passionate about empowering our residents to live as independently as possible, and part of that is encouraging physical activity to keep our seniors limber and energized each day!
If you want to experience the difference St. Anthony’s can make for the health and wellness of you or your loved one, schedule a tour to come learn more about our fitness programs and more!
