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This week, Rayna Neises, your host, talks with Kathy Webster.  For over 35 years, Kathy has inspired and coached adults to embrace and engage in physical activity.  After spending several years as an executive in the corporate wellness field, she launched ShipShape.

Now focused on her true passion, Kathy works one-on-one with older adults to stay safe and strong throughout their aging journey and to age in place within their home or environment of their choice.  She shares the following insights:

• Falls account for 25% of hospitalizations and over 40% of nursing home visits. Of those who survive a fall, 50% never return to their previous level of mobility or independence.
• Three E Model for Fall Prevention:
  • Evaluate
    • Physical and mental wellbeing
    • In-home safety assessments looking at trip hazards, preventing falls, and lighting
    • Care team
  • Education
    • Wellness and wellbeing including nutrition and the normal aging process
  • Elevate
    • Balance work, mobility, and weight transition
    • Learn how to fall, to get up, and to assess if injured
• Incorporate music because it is fun and takes you back in time to a happy place.
• Daily activities to help with balance/strength:
  • Stand Up/Sit Down using a sturdy chair.
  • Balance by shifting weight and picking up one foot at a time.
  • Place one foot in front of the other, narrowing the stride, and work to get closer and closer to a tight rope position.
• Do not think of it as exercise, but instead as simple movements done throughout the day.
• To learn more about Kathy’s services, visit her website at www.shipshaperi.com.