The Town of North Hempstead has launched a virtual exercise program, enabled by Skype technology, to enable elderly residents who are unable to attend exercise classes outside their homes to engage in yoga classes via computer, and eventually interact with each other in support groups as well.
As part of its Project Independence initiative to make it possible for the elderly to maintain their own households, the town has equipped computers in six households in New Hyde Park, Great Neck, Manhasset and Port Washington with Skype cameras so individuals and couples can interact with a yoga instructor at a remote location on a weekly basis.
They can go through an hour-long yoga regimen in step with the instructor, Mike Mancini, being to see and hear him as he can see them and field questions from them as they proceed through the non-stressful exercise regimen.
“It could be for reasons of health or the weather, but these people have been confined to their homes,” said Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman. “It really is going to be fun. And everything can do what they can.”
The objective, Kaiman said, is “to create a program to work with our seniors when it might not be convenient to leave their houses.”
That’s consistent with the goals of Project Independence, which seeks to provide senior citizens in the town with services such as cleaning their houses or funding upgrades such as retrofitting bathtubs with railings or escalator seats for stairways. Elderly citizens also can call taxis at reduced rates to transport them to pharmacies to pick up medications and supermarkets to do essential food shopping.
By installing the Skype technology on home computers, there is virtually no limit to the kinds of programs Project Independence can create for senior citizens to participate in from their own homes.
Evelyn Roth, the town’s commissioner of the department of services for the aging, said she foresee extending use of the technology to set up groups for bereavement support or socialization, for example, enabling seniors to watch movies together and discuss them afterward.
“There’s no end to what we can do,” Roth said.
Her immediate objective is to expand the new virtual exercise pilot program to more households throughout the town to a group of 10 households and more beyond that, spreading the word about it through advisories to seniors already participating in Project Independence and staff members in its satellite offices.
“It’s aimed at people who can’t participate in more strenuous classes at the center anymore,” Roth said.
With enhanced Skype technology, Mancini will be able to view multiple screens of people following his moves, so he can tell whether they’re executing the exercises he’s showing them correctly, Roth said.
The virtual exercise program is a boon to participants like Sheldon and Hazel Pachtman, who are involved in the pilot phase.
“I thought it was very good. It gave me something to look forward to,” Sheldon Pachtman said after the first session.
Pachtman said he had previously tried to participate in classes at an indoor facility in Clinton G. Martin Park, but found it too difficult
“This is a lot easier and I can talk to him when he does it,” he said of his interaction with the instructor in the virtual exercise session. “I was able to follow him completely. Whatever he did, I did it also.”
