Jefferson’s Ferry residents observe Active Aging Week

Residents at Jefferson’s Ferry wrapped up a 30-week walking challenge on the heels of an annual celebration called Active Aging Week, a national initiative by the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA) that celebrates aging and the benefits of active living at any age.

Back in April, residents strapped on pedometers and challenged each other to walk cross-country, measuring miles to steps. Collectively, 26 participants walked a total of 28,124,568 steps – a distance equal to walking to California and then on to Seattle before heading back east to New York. The top three winners for most steps received New Balance gift cards supplied by the Jefferson’s Ferry Foundation.

“By approaching wellness and exercise with a fun, positive attitude people are more likely to maintain an active lifestyle,” says Linda Kolakowski, Vice President of Resident Life at Jefferson’s Ferry. “A little friendly competition is healthy too.”

The walking challenge, she explains, is part of the community’s OWL Program, which stands for Opportunities for Wellness and Learning. The self-driven program is based on the seven dimensions of wellness identified by ICAA as necessary for achieving whole-person wellness, including physical, emotional, social, vocational, spiritual, environmental, and mental. These same dimensions define the theme for this year’s Active Aging Week, “Redefining Aging,” which took place Oct. 1-7, 2019.

During Active Aging Week, Jefferson’s Ferry residents learned how proper nutrition and maintaining positive personal space can improve all aspects of a person’s health. Building Friendship Bridges using popsicle sticks was a fun, hands-on activity that residents learned can also increase energy, improve emotional well-being by connecting with friends, and enhance creativity and mental sharpness.

According to the ICAA, active aging is about engaging with family, friends and/or community, learning and trying new things, volunteering, mentoring, pursuing further professional development or entrepreneurial endeavors, travelling, maintaining an active spiritual/religious life, and leading a healthy lifestyle with good nutrition, exercise, mindfulness and other forms of stress-management.

“There’s lifelong value to living in a community like Jefferson’s Ferry,” says Kolakowski, referencing The Age Well Study recently released by Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging, which found that “Residents living in life plan communities report more healthy behaviors and have greater emotional, social, physical, intellectual, and vocational wellness than a demographically similar group of older adults living in the community at large.”