Healthy Living Is Important At Any Age, Insist Local Seniors

Having greater access to supermarkets, post offices, and other amenities is only one of the priorities of local senior citizens, who are telling business and health leaders that they also need more healthy lifestyle programs tailored for the health challenges of older adults.

Members of the Senior Advisory Council — convened by the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership / Revitalization Project (MARP) — as well as fellow concerned seniors and senior advocates called for “more fitness classes, like zumba, line dancing, morning exercises, and yoga,” as well as group discounts to the theater, transportation for group grocery shopping trips, self-defense classes, swimming opportunities, a free gym, and fresh produce/more farmer’s markets.

“If we’re going to exercise, it should be fun,” said Beverly Eamons of the Good Neighbors Project of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, which seeks to “marshal the available resources, manage them to all our advantage, and maximize them by our numbers and energy.”

As assembled seniors at an April 20 MARP forum swapped information about dates for exercise classes at local churches (i.e. Emmanuel Baptist Church’s Prime Time Ministry at 279 Lafayette Avenue) and rumors/dreams of home-exercise programs that send fitness trainers to seniors’ homes at subsidized rates, it became clear that Fort Greene and Clinton Hill’s naturally-occurring retirement community is starved for opportunities and too often overlooked, as many seniors are citywide and nationwide.

“As our community evolves, older adults remain [and] our next step is to take this information, connect it with our focus group data, and prioritize small and large projects with our Senior Advisory Council,” said Meredith Phillips Almeida, executive director of MARP.

One of those projects proposed is the possibility of a “local jitney” to provide free transportation up and down Myrtle Avenue.

There already exists line dancing, yoga classes for older adults, and zumba at South Oxford Park, the Ingersoll Community Center, Willoughby Senior Center, Grace Agard Harewood Senior Center, Clinton Hill Library, and Bedford Library — programs which residents are hoping to both preserve and expand by getting the word out and providing transportation to and from the programs.

“Exercise is so important at all ages, but it is especially important for seniors who typically lead more sedentary lifestyles,” says Mike Silverman, director of sports at City Parks Foundation, which sponsors the yoga in the park program this summer through June 19 at South Oxford Park. “We’ve found that exercising even just once a week helps participants feel better mentally and emotionally. Seniors Fitness is a great opportunity for seniors to be social and meet new people in their neighborhoods, while getting outside and having some fun.”

The springtime program of BAM Senior Cinema — monthly free movies for older adults — was touted by retired social worker Anne Everette as something that would be nice to have more of, and as a way to “get seniors out of the neighborhood and feel encouraged to move.”

And local businesses are also getting on board, with Move With Grace (469 Myrtle Avenue) offering classes designed for older adults, and Just Because Hair Therapy (141 Carlton Avenue) offering $10 off on Sundays so seniors can come. .