Future of Aging Unfolding at Ecumen's Parmly LifePointes Community

Watch the Vitalize Video

Photo by Kyndell Harkness, Star Tribune 

Carrolle Serbus , 72, stretched her neck at the end of her water aerobics class at the Vitalize fitness center, which also includes a workout room and yoga classes.

By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune

June 22, 2008

Yoga. Massage. Tai Chi. A salt-water pool. Personal Trainers. Bike racks and a Wii machine.

What could be mistaken for an upscale spa or gym is actually a glimpse of the future of aging unfolding in Chisago City.

When they decided to build the Vitalize fitness center for residents of apartments and the nursing home at Parmly LifePointes long-term care campus, officials took an unusual approach. For starters, they opened the facilities to staff and the public.

Now a frail resident such as Bill Ihlenfeldt, 80, with Parkinson's disease and dementia, may share the 89-degree pool with nursing aides or town residents such as Janet Tangen, 62.

It's a growing phenomenon at long-term care facilities, which are seeking to integrate residents with the community -- and attract potential residents when their time comes.

The 10,000-square-foot fitness center opened last October in a new $5 million building that includes a 12-bed short-term rehabilitation unit.

With a goal of 250 members within a year, it already had reached 309 by Friday.

In addition to the pool, the center includes a hydrotherapy pool, workout room, physical therapy room, classes on weight loss, nutrition, yoga, water aerobics, healthy drinks, knitting ("finger exercise"), Tai Chi and health films. Members also can buy massages and sessions with personal trainers.

In the lobby is Ruben's Cafe, named for nursing home resident Ruben Berg, 95, a retired auto mechanic who washed out of his high school swimming team but won more than 250 medals after he took up competitive swimming at age 79. He uses a scooter to get around, but works out and swims regularly.

A bicycle rack is on order and the center soon will add a Wii machine -- already available in the nursing home and apartments -- that allows the user to play interactive video games such as golf and tennis.

"There are other long-term care places with fitness centers, but very few that are as extensive as ours and open to the public," said Patricia Montgomery, director of the center. "But you'll see more of them. I get calls every week from places that are interested."

No kids allowed

Bonnie Quigley, 60, joined the Vitalize Center for water aerobics and added fitness training and the new book club, which held its first meeting Wednesday.

"When you get to a certain age, you don't need to be surrounded by skinny bodies in Spandex all the time, like at the health club I used to go to," she said.

When she starts a workout, she can insert a small "smart key" into the equipment to keep track of progress on her fitness plan.

While the club targets membership at people 50 and older -- only nine are younger -- the cutoff age is 30. Younger adults with disabilities may join to use the facility for therapy. Membership costs $25 a month for residents and $45 for others.

A focus on strengths

The fitness center fits the direction that Parmly began charting when it started to expand 30 years ago, said Mary Cordts, executive director of the facility now owned by Ecumen, a Minnesota nonprofit nursing home and senior housing chain.

Parmly started as the Old People's Home and farm in 1904 on Green Lake, land bought by 10 area Lutheran churches. It later became the Chisago Lutheran Home for the Aged, then changed again in 1970 with a $1 million bequest from Margaret S. Parmly, ushering in an era of expansion.

Parmly includes 333 beds in its nursing home, assisted living, memory care and independent-living apartments and town homes. It also offers adult day care, home health services, a Meals on Wheels program, medical rides for people in the area, caregiver support groups, coaching to caregivers in the community and off-site wellness classes at eight sites, three days a week.

"People think of long-term care facilities as the place you go to die, and that's just not true anymore," Cordts said. "This is home, and it's part of the community. We help people live as complete and satisfying a life as possible."

Parmly recently began training all of its staff to focus on the strengths of the residents of the apartments and nursing home, not on their disabilities.

"That can change how you talk with residents, how you interact," she said. "Everybody from the leadership to the people cleaning the rooms starts to see residents as whole human beings, not units of care."

'Move me into Parmly'

The community fitness center concept is catching on. Crest View Senior Communities in Columbia Heights will break ground this fall for a new campus in Blaine. It, too, will include a fitness center with pool, hydrotherapy pool, Wii machine and wireless computer service, said CEO Shirley Barnes.

Parmly's goal of attracting potential residents with a fitness center has succeeded with Beverly Hughes, 76, a fitness club member from the community who uses the pool and workout equipment and has joined the book club.

"I love this place," she said. "I've already told my kids when I need more help, move me into Parmly."