Interview with First Nation Women about Ageless Grace
Ageless Grace Trainer, Lana Gelb, recently trained and interviewed Lori and Wanda – two wonderful First Nation women who will be sharing AG with their communities.
Interested in learning more about Ageless Grace? Click Here to watch our founder’s TED Talk.
INTERVIEW:
1. What brought you to this training? How did you hear about it?
Due to unforeseen circumstances our current exercise program has been unavailable. So we needed to put something else in place and AG looked like so much fun. We heard about AG from a work related conference.
2. How do you plan to implement the training in your community? How often – how many times a week, times of day, how long etc? (if you’ve decided already) in how many centers?
We plan to implement AG on Tuesdays and Thursdays of every week, from 10:00am – 10:45am. This will take place at our seniors complex.
3. How will you advertise it?..and will this be offered and advertised to the entire geographical area?
I plan to advertise AG in our programs monthly calendar and our communities monthly newsletter (available to all membership and on-line). I also find that producing a flyer also helps to advertise. I plan to use the flyers from the AG website.
4. How many Seniors are you expecting to participate – will there be a fee?
We are hoping to start off AG with at least 10 participants and we will NOT be charging a fee.
5. I’m aware that you both work with Seniors and love doing so – now that you’ve completed the training, how do you feel you can help these Seniors improve their lives, and how do you feel they will benefit from this program, in particular?
We look forward to participants increasing their range of motion, cognitive functions, social interaction, as well as giving them a safe environment for them to express themselves freely.
6. What are the greatest concerns/issues, problems facing the Seniors in your community , and do you think any are different from any other communities? If yes, please explain.
The greatest concerns/issues, problems facing the Seniors in our community has been the trauma, which has been brought upon by experiences from residential schools. With trauma comes isolation, shame and anxiety to just name a few symptoms. With having a residential school located within our community the trauma has become inter-generational.
7. Which tools do you think will be the most effective and why?
All 21 exercise tools from AG will be effective. Along with a safe environment, caring and compassionate educators the AG program will provide an avenue for people that are willing to move through the trauma and live a beautiful and fulfilling life that they deserve. Exercise is a great way to take the focus off of our negative thoughts and gets us thinking and how it feels to move our body.
8. Will you have some kind of feed back or evaluation of the program, periodically, and if so , how will you do it, and how will you manage the information you receive in order to modify or change the focus, if need be?
We will be distributing and collecting an evaluation form for each AG class we provide. The information will be reviewed by the educator and Senior Services Program Coordinator. A monthly report will be submitted to the Health Administrator and updates will also be provided to the Senior Wellness Committee.
9. Do you have any ideas or plans of how to make sure people come to the program on a regular basis – buses, incentives or such?
Transportation will be provided to our participants if needed. Participants are encouraged to stay after AG to socialize and eat a free lunch with their peers.
10. Are you intending to have more persons in your community/office trained to help you out or sub for you when you’re unable to teach, so that there is consistency?
Currently we have two staff members trained. If Wanda is unable to facilitate the class then I would sub in.