Special Supplement to The Glendale Star and Peoria Times
HEALTH
WELLNESS Your Local Guide to Better Living
Fall 2021
INSIDE
This Issue
GCC ........................4 Glendale Community College helps seniors manage their holiday stress
LUKE AIRMAN & FAMILY ................. 8 Bundles for Babies/Kids Ride Safe class offers car seats
HOSPICE OF THE VALLEY ............... 18 Managing stress and anxiety of dementia during the holidays
Glencroft brings hope to Parkinson’s patients
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BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
lencroft Center for Modern Aging in Glendale is incorporating golf into the lives of Parkinson’s patients with weekly sessions at The Wigwam. Steve Heller called ZoeLife Parkinson’s Immersion Program a holistic rehab and prevention program. P.I.P. golf is a customized therapeutic golf program designed to improve and delay symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease. It is for those who want to improve their golf game, manage symptoms and safely continue golfing. It was designed to improve functional movement, balance, strength, flexibility, coordination, posture, conditioning, kinematic golf swing mechanics, nutrition, speech and golfing technique, as well as alleviate depression. “We do this every Thursday,” said Heller, the vice president and director of ZoeLife Operations. “We shuttle a group of residents for a fun morning of golf and friendship.” The P.I.P. Golf Performance Team includes exercise physiologists with extensive knowledge of golf physiology, PGA-certified golf instructors, speech and physical therapists, and nutritionists who collaborate to maximize individual well-being while prolonging the joy of golfing. Heller said the sport is perfect for those with Parkinson’s because many of them gave up golf. “I ask them, ‘When you received the
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Steve Heller of Glencroft Center for Modern Aging’s ZoeLife gives Ruth Smith a few golfing tips. (Photo courtesy of Glencroft Center for Modern Aging)
news that you have Parkinson’s, what did you give up?’” Heller said. “Inevitably, the word ‘golf’ kept coming up. They hang up the sticks and say, ‘I’m never playing golf again.’ I thought this was too perfect of a scenario to have a legitimate Parkinson’s golf team who trains together.” Heller reached out to The Wigwam, which “rolled out the red carpet.” The Litchfield Park resort is not charging Glencroft. The group could participate even through COVID-19, as golf is played on a sprawling course. “Nobody in this country is attacking Par-
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kinson’s with golfers,” Heller said. “It’s way outside of the box. I thought we could be really creative here.” The participants’ mindset improves when they are on the golf course and they start winning. “It checks every box we hoped it would,” Heller said. “The hardest part of Parkinson’s is they have no sense of hope. They’re just decimated, and they feel anxious. Telling these folks that they can play golf again boosts their mood.” On the Glencroft campus, Heller creat-
Hope...continued on page 4 Midwestern University Multispecialty Clinic Your Family’s Home for Healthcare
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