{"id":217071,"date":"2025-12-05T16:09:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/217071\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T16:09:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:09:12","slug":"new-session-of-otago-exercise-program-for-older-adults-in-rural-communities-starts-in-new-year-kingston-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/217071\/","title":{"rendered":"New session of Otago Exercise Program for older adults in rural communities starts in new year \u2013 Kingston News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Photo by Wellness Gallery Catalyst Foundation.<\/p>\n

The Rural Frontenac, Lennox & Addington (RFL&A) Allied Health Team is launching a new round of its popular Otago Exercise Program for older adults in rural communities<\/a>, following strong participation and positive feedback from the first sessions.<\/p>\n

According to a release from Kingston Community Health Centres (KCHC), participants have already reported improvements in strength, balance, mobility, and social connection.<\/p>\n

As previously reported<\/a>, the program is supported by a three-year, $240,000 Older Adults Connecting and Belonging grant from the Community Foundation. The next session will run in Sydenham, Napanee, Newburgh, Verona, Tamworth, Deseronto, and Sharbot Lake starting January 2026, KCHC detailed.<\/p>\n

According to the release, each two-hour weekly session includes an exercise class followed by a social hour. Guest presenters \u2014 such as dietitians, mental health workers, social workers, Osteoporosis Canada representatives, and diabetes educators \u2014 share valuable information and resources in engaging formats like nutrition jeopardy, art therapy, and respiratory bingo. After completing the program, graduates can stay active through peer-led groups, maintaining both fitness and social connection long after the sessions end.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels special to be a part of this,\u201d said Carly Corrigan, Active Living Facilitator.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach week, participants come ready to exercise and learn, but it\u2019s so much more than that \u2014 we laugh, share stories, and learn from each other. Seeing participants improve week by week shows this program is truly making a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

KCHC noted that the initiative is also part of a research collaboration with the Canadian Frailty Network and Queen\u2019s University, studying how community-based programs improve physical fitness, reduce fall risk, and address loneliness and social isolation among older adults.<\/p>\n

By combining exercise, education, and social connection, the RFL&A Health Team helps older adults stay healthy, resilient, and engaged, according to the release.<\/p>\n

As one participant shared, \u201cI came for the exercise, but I stayed for the friendships.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by Wellness Gallery Catalyst Foundation. The Rural Frontenac, Lennox & Addington (RFL&A) Allied Health Team is launching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[278],"tags":[117694,117695,117696,2597,18,539,117697,525,117698,117699,135,19,17,117700,117701,117702,117703,117704,29624,117705,117706,5196,117707,40091,117708,117709,117710,117711,117712],"class_list":{"0":"post-217071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-canadian-frailty-network","9":"tag-carly-corrigan","10":"tag-deseronto","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-exercise","14":"tag-exercise-classes-for-seniors","15":"tag-fitness","16":"tag-frontenac-county","17":"tag-guest-presenters","18":"tag-health","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-kingston-community-health-centre-kchc","22":"tag-lennox-and-addington-county","23":"tag-napanee","24":"tag-newburgh","25":"tag-otago-exercise-program","26":"tag-queens-university","27":"tag-research-collaboration","28":"tag-rural-frontenac-lennox-addington-allied-health-team","29":"tag-seniors","30":"tag-sharbot-lake","31":"tag-social-connection","32":"tag-social-hour","33":"tag-sydenham","34":"tag-tamworth","35":"tag-verona","36":"tag-weekly-session"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}