If the activities programming in your senior living community is lacking, this presentation will provide you with a new framework from which to build a multidimentional wellness strategy that is backed by data.

1. 3 Keys to Improving Resident
Engagement in Wellness
National Institute for Fitness and Sport
Bethany Garrity
(317) 274-3432
bgarrity@nifs.org

2. This is how activities work in
most communities:
20% of residents participate in 80% of the activities

3. So the question becomes:
How do we engage more of the 80% who
don’t regularly join in?

4. This isn’t about putting more
programs on your calendar.
Doing more ≠ Doing better
Filling the activities calendar
and keeping the staff busy
aren’t usually the answer to
improved engagement.
Most communities we work
with have PLENTY of activity
and program options on their
calendar(s).

5. We’re
talking
about doing
activities
differently…
and change
can be hard.
No one
really likes
change.

6. “But…we’ve always
done it that way.”

7. I was born in 1946. I just finished my first triathlon. I
am health and food conscious.
(Oh, and my parents live in a community just like this.)
Need a reason to
change your
activities paradigm?

8. If you’re still with me
after all that intro, then
you’re probably more
than ready to dig into the
promised “3 ways to
improve resident
engagement”.

9. #1 cultivate synergy with wellness
personnel

10. Activities
Fitness
Therapy
HealthCenter

11. Silos perpetuate status quo because they
build kingdoms with kings who are often
territorial.
The kings spend a lot of time guarding turf,
and thus limit your organization’s potential for
a multidimensional wellness strategy.

12. see the forest for the treesID a leader who can see the forest
for the trees (It may not be your activities director.)

13. He’s
counting
on you to
help him
live with
vitality.

14. Improve resident options for living with purpose and
vitality:
Tap into the one thing that is consistent with all staff who work
in a community setting…their love of the residents.
Build collaboration into job descriptions and evaluate against that
work
Look at existing programming…at some of the favorites and re-
envision how those events or services can be developed with a
multidimensional approach
Transition passive activities to active opportunities
Evaluate last year’s programming to uncover opportunities to tap
into more dimensions

15. Join us for our
newest healthy
living series:
“Life In Balance”

16. What Who Description
A balanced
approach to
fitness
Fitness Manager Passport-type program; encourage participation in the
range of fitness program offerings Create specific
invitations to residents who haven’t exercised recently.
A balanced
approach to
faith
Chaplain Host a speaker series with religious leaders from the most
common world religions. Follow up with trips to a local
temple, mosque, etc. Include resident-led post-tour
discussions.
A balanced
approach to
the living on
Earth
Activity Director,
Garden
Committee,
Fitness Manager
Bring in a local master gardener to teach about native
plants, best ways to grow fruits and veggies, etc. Hold in
the spring and follow up with exercise classes focused on
helping residents be gardening-ready.
A balanced
approach to
living simply
Library
Committee,
Activity Director
Initiate a community-wide book discussion: Enough:
Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity;
Create a public comment board where residents can list
the ways they want to living more simply. Follow up on
those goals to build opportunities for purposeful living.
A balanced
approach to
care giving
Social worker,
Chaplain,
Administrator
Create a care-giving summit to create access to resources
available at your community as well as in the broader
community. Take an inventory of caregiver needs;
consider creating programming from the results of the
survey

17. #2 tap into your amazing residents to
invite others and to build purpose

18. How can you
use this story
of resident
adventure on
a sand-
sledding trip
to invite other
residents to
sign up for the
next trip?

19. Do you know what the less-engaged residents in
your community are passionate about? Do you
know what helps them live with purpose?

20. Look beyond the ‘activities director as
order-taker’ model.
For more on this concept, find our blog post by searching those keywords.

21. #3 get smart about data and strategy
for wellness

22. Maybe your group fitness program is a
good place to start evaluating your
wellness programming.
$10,000 spent with no data?
Assume 8 classes per week at
50 weeks of the year =
400 classes per year
400 classes per year x
$25/class = $10,000 spent in
group fitness classes

23. Here are the components to our evaluation
framework:
 Begin at the beginning
 Map out the how
 Stick to the plan
 Evaluate and report
(For more on this concept, find our blog post on “4 keys to getting wellness
program data you can actually use”.)

24. 40% of
residents who
participated
in NIFS
balance
challenge
reported a
decreased
fear of falling

25. 2011 2012 2013
13% increase
in NIFS
wellness
series
participation
over two
years

26. 20% increase in group class participation
with NIFS DIY oatmeal bar

27. 44% increase in
participation by previously
inactive members during
NIFS floor wars

28. Nothing happens until the pain of remaining
the same outweighs the pain of change.
~Arthur Burt

29. National Institute for Fitness and Sport
Bethany Garrity
(317) 274-3432
bgarrity@nifs.org
wellness.nifs.org