Wellness Means Keeping Active

Residents of Supportive Housing Site Head to Florida One Step at a Time

Lois Tamagna, 79, of Malden and a group of her neighbors have walked all the way to Baltimore, Maryland. It’s taken six months but they’ve made it and they’re not stopping there. Tamagna and the crew have their eyes set on Florida!

While they have covered the distance to Baltimore, they’re actually still in Malden. Residents of one of MVES’ supportive housing sites, 630 Salem Street in Malden, have been participating in the Steps for Life program since January. Steps for Life encourages residents to track their steps each week, helps determine how those steps equate to miles, and then tracks that mileage to a particular destination. With every 2,000 steps, they’re one mile closer to Florida.

“It’s about our health,” said Tamagna, who is president of the building’s social club and one of the most active participants in Steps for Life. “It’s something that will get everyone out of their apartments... a great way of getting people involved.”

Steps for Life is just one part of the Aging Well at Home Program, that has an overarching goal to enable elders to live with dignity in their own homes for as long as possible. Julie Souliotis, MVES’ resident services coordinator at the supportive housing site, is co-running Steps for Life with Kathy Burnes of Jewish Family and Children Services (JF&CS).

“The program is designed to motivate our residents to be active, keep moving, and stay involved,” said Souliotis. “It’s a fun way to encourage people to participate in activities in our building and promote a healthy way of living.”

The residents don’t use pedometers to count their steps, but instead use a system that assigns certain places in the building with a designated number of steps. A trip to the laundry room is 500 steps. A walk to pick up the mail is 250. Participating in activities can earn the residents steps too. Attending a coffee hour or birthday party will each earn 300 steps. Movie night and blood pressure screenings are worth 500. Residents can earn a whopping 2,500 steps for attending a line-dancing class!

The group holds monthly meetings to catch up on their stepping progress and also to discuss ways to keep all residents active. “Since the planning group met a few months ago, they have been instrumental in thinking of new ways to overcome resistance and involve both the frail and well residents in the building,” said Burnes.

Souliotis and Burnes have come up with creative ways to celebrate when the group reaches a certain destination. When they collectively made it to Mashantucket, Connecticut, home of Foxwoods Casino, each group member received a deck of cards. When they reached New York City, they each got a “big apple!”

And so on they go down the east coast. Tamanga is confident that the group can stay active, keep stepping, and reach their desired destination. “We’ve set a goal and we’ll get there!” she said.