Dedication to Seniors Ensures Community Wellness
COBTH Home ---------------- Introduction ---------------- Resouces ---------------- Public Health Champion ---------------- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center ---------------- Boston Medical Center ---------------- Brigham and Women's Hospital ---------------- Cambridge Health Alliance ---------------- Caritas Carney Hospital ---------------- Caritas Saint Elizabeth's Medical Center ---------------- Children's Hospital Boston ---------------- Dana-Farber Cancer-Institute ---------------- Faulkner Hospital ---------------- Lahey Clinic Medical Center ---------------- Massachusetts General Hospital ---------------- Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary ---------------- Tufts Medical Center ---------------- VA Boston Healthcare System ---------------- COBTH Community Benefits Committee ---------------- COBTH Hospital Cancer Rides ---------------- COBTH Domestic Violence Council		Erika Boeck, who lives in Burlington, Mass., has had her share of health challenges, including prediabetes and joint problems. But at age 84, she remains active and independent—thanks in part to the Community Wellness Collaborative, a partnership between Lahey Clinic and the Councils on Aging in the towns of Burlington, Wilmington, Woburn, Billerica and Winchester. Through this partnership, Lahey sponsors programs in nutrition, exercise and chronic disease self-management. “Lahey Clinic’s programs have been a great help to me,” Boeck says. “I have learned all about proper eating and exercise, which are so important to staying healthy.” Healthy Eating with MyPyramid, a national program developed at Lahey, helps seniors make better nutrition choices. Lahey’s Margie Doyle, geriatric program director, developed this workshop as an interactive session that teaches seniors how to apply nutrition to their daily lives to maintain health and prevent the development or progression of disease. You Can! Steps to Healthier Aging was developed at Lahey from guidelines provided by the U.S. Administration on Aging. Lahey also sponsors the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (developed by researchers at Stanford University) and Yesterday and Today, an intergenerational program that brings seniors together with middle school students for interaction and shared learning. In 2007, Lahey committed in excess of $100,000 to offer the programs at little or no cost to participants. Boeck was among more than 300 seniors who took part in these programs last year. “These programs have an incredible impact on those who take part,” says Doyle. “They are in great demand.”