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Press releases
Fourth annual ICAA awards honor creativity and excellence in active aging
Innovative offerings promote health, well-being and quality of life for adults over 50
(VANCOUVER, BC, November 3, 2006) —The International Council on Active Aging (ICAA), the world’s largest trade association for the senior fitness and wellness industry, is pleased to name the recipients of the 2006 ICAA Industry Innovators Awards. ICAA has chosen the following award-winners for the creativity and excellence of their offerings, which promote health, well-being and quality of life in adults ages 50 and older:
- Advance to Wellness, SecureHorizons from United HealthCare, Santa Ana, California
- Wellness Program, Inverness Village Wellness Center, Inverness Village, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Project Enhance, Senior Services/University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- Get Fit on Route 66/Step Up to Better Health, AARP, Washington, DC
- Travel by Leisure Care (TLC), Leisure Care, Seattle, Washington
- Excellence for Living/Passport to Wellness, Sunnyside, Harrisonburg, Virginia
In addition, ICAA recognizes the Life Fitness Circuit Series age-friendly strength line as its 2006 Industry Equipment Innovator, an awards category that spotlights North America’s most inventive new fitness equipment for active older adults.
Colin Milner, ICAA founder and chief executive officer, praises the recipients’ accomplishments in the different dimensions of wellness, saying these reflect the great strides made in the active aging industry since ICAA’s launch in 2001. “This year’s ICAA Industry Innovators use creative, high-quality wellness approaches that encourage older adults to preserve or improve their vitality, health, and independence,” he says, “as well as to enjoy rich, fulfilling life experiences.” Adds Milner, “Through their persistent and committed efforts, these organizations are supporting healthy, vibrant living at any age. This is something we must successfully promote if we are to meet the challenges of our aging population.”
Sponsored by SportsArt Fitness, the fourth annual ICAA awards competition attracted a broad range of entries, representing efforts in all six dimensions of wellness. A panel considered these entries fully before selecting the finalists, which won for their marketing, programming, design, or other individual element. The ICAA thanks all entrants and congratulates this year’s award-winners.
In the coming year, in-depth articles on the 2006 ICAA Industry Innovators will appear in the ICAA’s bimonthly Journal on Active Aging. This series of articles will profile the award-winners, providing the active aging industry with the opportunity to learn about these cutting-edge efforts and the organizations that created them. The Innovators will receive their awards on Thursday, November 16, at ICAA’s Active Aging 2006 conference in Las Vegas. More information about their offerings appears below:
Advance to Wellness—SecureHorizons from United HealthCare, Santa Ana, California
Recognized for creativity in: outreach
SecureHorizons’ new Advance to Wellness program is a comprehensive, high touch benefit that supports members who want better control of their health. Advance to Wellness addresses multiple areas of vitality and wellness, namely physical, memory, nutrition, independence, legal and financial. Importantly, this program gives 180,000 eligible members access to services that prevent disease and promote health and well-being.
The five key elements of Advance to Wellness include the assistance of a personal health coach, a preliminary assessment of current vitality indicators, an individualized action plan for change, a wide range of cost-free behavior change services, and a follow-up evaluation to measure results. This support is crucial to older adults who want to develop healthier habits. Offered in-person and over the telephone, the program’s personalized coaching, in particular, encourages and empowers individuals to persist with their efforts to change, so they can enjoy improved vitality.
Wellness Program—Inverness Village Wellness Center, Inverness Village, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Recognized for creativity in: programming (leading to outstanding participation)
The Inverness Village life care community prides itself on an environment in which residents can embrace life to the fullest. Opened three years’ ago, the community approaches wellness in a holistic way, using a model that encompasses the physical, social, spiritual, vocational, emotional and intellectual dimensions. An 11,000-sq.-ft. wellness center provides the hub for wellness programming that accommodates all levels of fitness. The wellness staff’s enthusiastic and innovative approach to programming has resulted in an 80–85% participation rate, a percentage considerably higher than the norm.
The Inverness Village Wellness Center starts with the mission “to create and sustain a path to wellness without walls that leads to successful aging.” Educational lectures and events engage individuals throughout the community, and wellness staff use these topics as a springboard to related programming. A residents’ fitness committee also provides valuable input and assistance, ensuring programs meet their peers’ needs.
Project Enhance—Senior Services/University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Recognized for creativity in: evidence-based programs
Developed by a partnership, Project Enhance has packaged two evidence-based programs into a health and wellness program for community-dwelling older adults. The easy-to-implement turnkey offerings include EnhanceFitness, a group exercise class, and EnhanceWellness, a behavior change program, which organizations may adopt individually or together. Begun in 1997 at four seniors centers, Project Enhance programs have led to measurable participant outcomes such as improved physical functioning and decreased depression, hospital days and psychoactive drugs. Impressively, more than 100 sites in 13 states and the District of Columbia now offer these programs. This growth is a real achievement, as evidence-based programs often encounter challenges that affect their success when replicated in other settings. As well, both Enhance offerings enjoy good participant retention.
Project Enhance continues to expand its reach today. EnhanceFitness is now offered as a benefit to Medicare-eligible members of Group Health Cooperative, a large, Seattle-based healthcare organization. Also, EnhanceWellness has formed and maintained partnerships with healthcare systems and physicians.
Get Fit on Route 66/Step Up to Better Health—AARP, Washington, DC
Recognized for creativity in: online programming
As a leading organization serving adults ages 50 and older, AARP promotes active aging to its members through various avenues, including its Physical Activities Workbook and its website. In 2004, after successful pilot projects, AARP launched two programs aimed at motivating its members to be more physically active, tapping the Internet as the primary medium for delivery.
More than 6,000 individuals have registered for Get Fit on Route 66 since its 2004 launch. Described as a “fun online physical activity adventure,” this program allows users to translate exercise minutes into online miles, which they use to trace the famous highway from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. With the second program, Step Up to Better Health, participants increase their steps to 10,000 a day in 10 weeks. As with the Route 66 program, users go on a virtual adventure—this time along one of four legendary trails of varying length. By providing goals and tracking progress for participants, these AARP programs motivate individuals to build more physical activity into their daily lives.
Travel by Leisure Care (TLC)—Leisure Care, Seattle, Washington
Recognized for creativity in: life-enriching services
Traveling in retirement is a key desire of aging Baby Boomers and older adults. In 2003, Leisure Care Retirement Communities created TLC to serve the travel needs of its 6,700 residents. This venture has grown into a full-service travel agency with a difference, as TLC aims not only to help people fulfill their travel dreams, but also “to promote physical activity and well-being through travel.” TLC agents design trips to meet the individual needs and desires of the traveler. Also available, group trips to various destinations include escorts chosen from Leisure Care employees, ensuring individuals know about the special needs of the older adults on a trip. Some upcoming group tours include Canada’s Northern Lights, a Caribbean cruise, and a European getaway.
Leisure Care also markets TLC to its employees, encouraging them and their families to make travel plans through the agency. In addition, TLC provides a turnkey travel package for ICAA members, spreading the use of its specialized services to the industry.
Excellence for Living/Passport to Wellness—Sunnyside, Harrisonburg, Virginia
Recognized for creativity in: marketing and promotions
Sunnyside is a continuing care retirement community located in the historic Shenandoah Valley. In existence for more than 50 years, Sunnyside features an up-to-the-minute array of amenities, services and programs to support healthy aging, including a fully equipped wellness facility. One effort spearheaded by the Sunnyside Wellness Center is the Excellence for Living Series, a quarterly publication that lists wellness-related programs and services at Sunnyside and in the surrounding community. The brochure is branded with a logo, which also appears on posters and other promotional material.
Another recent initiative, Passport to Wellness, motivated residents in the community’s independent, assisted living and health care areas to take part in up to 50 wellness-related activities. This 12-week challenge aimed to improve quality of life and wellness in seven dimensions (including environmental). Participating residents received a small booklet of activities, which they initialed after completing as many activities as possible and returned for prizes. Through both innovative marketing efforts, Sunnyside Wellness Center has increased resident awareness of wellness and the many opportunities available to them to nurture mind-body-spirit, including those at the facility.
ICAA Industry Equipment Innovator
Circuit Series—Life Fitness, Schiller Park, Illinois
Recognized for creativity in: age-friendly fitness equipment
The ICAA Industry Equipment Innovator for 2006 is Life Fitness’s Circuit Series, an age-friendly strength line designed to accommodate all functional levels. Machines in this line feature a low profile and no weight stacks, so older adult exercisers feel less intimidated when approaching them. The Circuit Series units also meet many of the requirements for strength-training equipment noted on ICAA’s checklist of age-friendly facilities. For instance, the easy-to-use pieces include easy on/off design, simple resistance selection from a seated position, low starting resistance, small incremental changes in resistance, large seats, and easy-to-understand placards. In addition, the units have no required set-up adjustments and user-defined range of motion. Life Fitness also gives individuals the choice between various pre-set circuit-training programs, or creating their own programs to improve strength, cardiovascular fitness, range of motion, and more. As a result of all these features, the Circuit Series machines are more accessible and appealing for exercisers; more useful for achieving a wide range of goals; and more suited to the diverse settings that make up the active aging industry.
Launched in 2003, the ICAA Industry Innovators Awards honor excellence and creativity in the health and wellness field. They also recognize organizations that have created cutting-edge programs to support active aging among adults ages 50 and older. For more information about the Innovators awards program, call ICAA toll-free at 866-335-9777, or visit www.icaa.cc/awardsprogram.htm.
About the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA)
The ICAA is the world's largest membership association dedicated to changing the way we age by uniting and working with professionals in the retirement, assisted living, recreation, fitness, rehabilitation and wellness fields. We connect a community of like-minded professionals who share the goals of changing society’s perceptions of aging and improving the quality of life for Baby Boomers and older adults within the six dimensions of wellness (emotional, vocational, physical, spiritual, intellectual, social).
For interviews or more information about ICAA, the ICAA Industry Innovators Awards, or aging-related issues, contact:
Colin Milner, CEO, International Council on Active Aging
Toll-free: 1-866-335-9777 (North America only)
Telephone: 604-734-4466; cell: 604-763-4595
Email: colinmilner@icaa.cc; website: www.icaa.cc
