Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

A significant value component we bring to our senior living clients is that our staff have a team of peers doing this work across the country and we pride ourselves in collaboration and networking best practices across our client sites. It’s important that fitness stay fresh and fun to maximize engagement in your community and with dozens of emails just like this circulating around our team each month, the flow of ideas is constantly elevating how we serve our clients. Below is a monthly recap email from our superstar staff Kayla Hill in Towson, Maryland that was sent to our team of managers in 14 states across the country. She has a wonderful team at her community who she collaborates with regularly to bring these special programs and events to life and as you can see, she has a lot of fun doing it and sharing her story with her peers.

If your community could benefit from a stream of fresh ideas to enhance resident engagement in your fitness offerings, contact NIFS today.

We say it with pride quite regularly, our amazing staff in corporate and senior living fitness centers are what help us serve our clients so well. Their strong educational background in health and fitness helps us set the bar high while their exceptional creativity and relationship building skills allows them to keep their members engaged and asking what’s coming next. Since we have the privilege of getting to know our staff across the country, we thought our followers might like to as well. Join us monthly as we throw a different NIFS team member a High Five.

• Name: Andre McCormack
• City, State: Kalamazoo, MI
• Years with NIFS: 8 months
• Position: Fitness Manager
• What brought you to NIFS: I enjoy working with the active aging population!
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: The most impactful moment so far was when a resident stopped me to tell me that the motivation they consistently received led her to losing 10lbs and helped her get back to the weight she was used to being at. Other moments are similar, I get a big smile on my face whenever I recommend something and the person comes back telling me how much it helped.
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: The difference with a NIFS Fitness Pro is that they have a great ability to adapt and excel with all levels, interests, environments, and situations that may come up.
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: The best part of my role is interacting with the residents. They truly do become a second family to you. Most of the residents are hungry for new knowledge and that creates great discussions on a number of topics. On top of all that, the residents show their appreciation more than any other population and it means the world to know you are doing a great job helping.
• What motivates you: I want to be able to have an impact on as many people as I can. There truly is nothing better than helping flip the direction of someone’s afternoon, day, week, or better yet…life!
• What is your favorite hobby: I love to travel to places with amazing sights and love to learn about new cultures, foods, history, and more. In addition, I absolutely LOVE sports. There nothing better than watching or playing in a good competition.

Interested in learning more about our staffing services? Click below for what best fits your needs.

ACTIVE AGING   |   CORPORATE FITNESS

We say it with pride quite regularly, our amazing staff in corporate and senior living fitness centers are what help us serve our clients so well. Their strong educational background in health and fitness helps us set the bar high while their exceptional creativity and relationship building skills allows them to keep their members engaged and asking what’s coming next. Since we have the privilege of getting to know our staff across the country, we thought our followers might like to as well. Join us monthly as we throw a different NIFS team member a High Five.

• Name: Kelly Stinnett
• City, State: Terre Haute, IN
• Years with NIFS: 2.5 years
• Position: Per Diem Health Fitness Specialist
• What brought you to NIFS: I was already in the community teaching other exercise classes and I was happy to come on board with NIFS for staff coverage and greater opportunities to grow.
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: I see a lot of little moments as the most impactful "moment" with not just one but a handful of individuals. They appreciate what I do and take the time to walk up after class and say "good job" or "thank you for being here". The majority of members I get to see on a regular basis treat me like a friend and may pop their head into the office just to extend another sincere thank you. These are little things that I cherish and consider most impactful! 
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: The NIFS resources and network allow program managers to bring new, creative, and thoughtful ways to keep incorporating much needed movement and activity into everyone’s lives who are recipients of a NIFS pro.
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: Relationships with members and the wonderful sense of fulfillment I get with this position.
• What motivates you: Knowing that every exercise class/program provided is creating a better quality of life for members but also for myself as I get to enjoy the exercises and socializing that is so important for aging adults.  
• What is your favorite hobby: A favorite is hard to choose. Everything outdoors, especially in the sun, would be on the top of the list. Hiking, biking, running; playing with a frisbee, football, or volleyball. Thankfully my husband and step-daughter are the same in this way and whenever we get a chance to take a trip to the park, we pack ALL of the things into the car (even a hammock, book, and guitar), never actually able to do everything, but we have them just in case!
   

  Interested in learning more about our staffing services? Click below for what best fits your needs.

  ACTIVE AGING   |   CORPORATE FITNESS

We say it with pride quite regularly, our amazing staff in corporate and senior living fitness centers are what help us serve our clients so well. Their strong educational background in health and fitness helps us set the bar high while their exceptional creativity and relationship building skills allows them to keep their members engaged and asking what’s coming next. Since we have the privilege of getting to know our staff across the country, we thought our followers might like to as well. Join us monthly as we throw a different NIFS team member a High Five.

• Name: Kelsey Devereaux
• City, State: Indianapolis, IN
• Years with NIFS: 6 months
• Position: Fitness Manager
• What brought you to NIFS: I was in between jobs and needed to find something more stable. I found the opportunity with NIFS and went for it.
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: Working with the residents in senior living is impactful in itself. They make you want to better yourself no matter where you are in life.
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: The ability to transform into whatever we need to be for our client. 
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: Connecting with members helping them with their fitness and health goals.
• What motivates you: Being able to share new knowledge of the fitness and health industry to help clients accomplish their goals.
• What is your favorite hobby: Riding my bike through the woods for a lot of hours.....and petting dogs.
  

  Interested in learning more about our staffing services? Click below for what best fits your needs.

  ACTIVE AGING   |   CORPORATE FITNESS

We say it with pride quite regularly, our amazing staff in corporate and senior living fitness centers are what help us serve our clients so well. Their strong educational background in health and fitness helps us set the bar high while their exceptional creativity and relationship building skills allows them to keep their members engaged and asking what’s coming next. Since we have the privilege of getting to know our staff across the country, we thought our followers might like to as well. Join us monthly as we throw a different NIFS team member a High Five.

• Name: Candace Montgomery
• City, State: Newport News, VA
• Years with NIFS: 2 years
• Position: Fitness and  Vibrance Director
• What brought you to NIFS: Originally in the Health Fitness Specialist position and wanted to expand my career in fitness.
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: When working with a member for an extended period of time and they truly begin to see the results of their hard work, whether that be improved balance, gained strength, etc., it is always rewarding for me when they have that confidence boost!
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: A NIFS fitness pro is different from the rest because of the resources available and upper management that is consistently encouraging their team to be their best for the members. The NIFS team is a great sounding board for crafting innovative programming and how to keep fitness fun!
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: The favorite aspect of my role is interacting with the members and many of them become like extended family members, where they genuinely care about you and your own family. This role provides me with the opportunity to not only build members strength, but also build lasting relationships. It is a truly rewarding career!
• What motivates you: I am motivated by son (3yo) as I am always striving to be the best version of myself to set an example for him. Additionally, the members motivate me! I feed off the energy of the residents, especially during exercise class. Nothing keeps me motivated more than having fun and exercising with our members!  
• What is your favorite hobby: I love doing DIY projects! We recently moved into a new house and my husband and I are constantly doing a new project. Its so much fun being creative and finding new ways to make a space uniquely yours. I watch a lot of Fixer Upper, haha!

   

  Interested in learning more about our staffing services? Click below for what best fits your needs.

  ACTIVE AGING   |   CORPORATE FITNESS

We say it with pride quite regularly, our amazing staff in corporate and senior living fitness centers are what help us serve our clients so well. Their strong educational background in health and fitness helps us set the bar high while their exceptional creativity and relationship building skills allows them to keep their members engaged and asking what’s coming next. Since we have the privilege of getting to know our staff across the country, we thought our followers might like to as well. Join us monthly as we throw a different NIFS team member a High Five.

• Name: Tara VanNess
• City, State: Indianapolis, IN
• Years with NIFS: 5 months
• Position: Fitness Center Manager
• What brought you to NIFS: I was seeking a position to expand my experience in the health and exercise field.
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: Connecting and working with a member that had a relatable injury from a past. It was easy to relate with her and share my experience of areas I could have rehabilitated better or different tools for success. Additionally, reconnected with a previous member who was a patient at my old job, before NIFS. He is hilarious and we constantly connect over his many injuries and training habits.
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: I believe it is our ability to not only train but educate our members regarding our field. We can identify the reasoning behind why we have our members train a specific way or feedback on their training.
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: The ability to build relationships with members. I get to see some of the same faces everyday and connect daily on what’s new in either of our lives. Lastly, I love learning something new every day such as various training styles, traveling, engineering, education, news, etc.
• What motivates you: Personally, this question is heavily dependent on what goal I’m striving to achieve. However, as for as work the members and my co-workers are what motivate me to do my best and show up with a positive attitude.    
• What is your favorite hobby: Currently, it is an outdoor light competition in my neighborhood for the holidays. On a regular basis, it’s spending time outdoors exploring with my dogs and boyfriend.
   

  Interested in learning more about our staffing services?  Click below for what best fits your needs.

  ACTIVE AGING   |   CORPORATE FITNESS

We say it with pride quite regularly, our amazing staff in corporate and senior living fitness centers are what help us serve our clients so well. Their strong educational background in health and fitness helps us set the bar high while their exceptional creativity and relationship building skills allows them to keep their members engaged and asking what’s coming next. Since we have the privilege of getting to know our staff across the country, we thought our followers might like to as well. Join us monthly as we throw a different NIFS team member a High Five.

• Name: Angelica Patterson
• City, State: Stone Mountain, GA
• Years with NIFS: 6 years
• Position: Fitness Center Manager
• What brought you to NIFS: a former co-worker who worked for NIFS   
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: During the program Personal Fitness Quest, I worked with a member for 6 weeks straight and to watch the improvement was amazing. Someone who started out needing a wheel chair after recovering from a fall all the way up to walking without assistance while improving overall balance.
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: Their attention detail when it comes to bringing value to different communities.
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: Building relationships with the members, as well as helping in the professional development of the Health Fitness Specialist role. 
• What motivates you: My family motivates me, I was taught at in early age that with anything you do you want to try your best as well as its not never too late to improve. 
• What is your favorite hobby: Cheering on my favorite team the Philadelphia Eagles "Fly Eagles Fly".
  
  

  Interested in learning more about our staffing services? Click below for what best fits your needs.

  ACTIVE AGING   |   CORPORATE FITNESS

We say it with pride quite regularly, our amazing staff in corporate and senior living fitness centers are what help us serve our clients so well. Their strong educational background in health and fitness helps us set the bar high while their exceptional creativity and relationship building skills allows them to keep their members engaged and asking what’s coming next. Since we have the privilege of getting to know our staff across the country, we thought our followers might like to as well. Join us monthly as we throw a different NIFS team member a High Five.

• Name: Keith Ledbetter
• City, State: Indianapolis, IN
• Years with NIFS: 12 years
• Position: Corporate Fitness Manager
• What brought you to NIFS: I completed my internship with NIFS. I liked the NIFS model and how we are able to deliver our outstanding services to our clients and members. There are other ways of doing what we do, I think our way is the best.  
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: There are many moments that stick out in my mind, from people who achieved a large amount of weight loss to people who recovered from surgery, and gaining confidence after some traumatic life events and achieving their goals. The one that stick with me the most is when a member came down and started with NIFS PFQ program, then transitioned in to one of those “group fitness people.” She continued to see results and became the ignition point for the rest of her family to change some habits and get healthier too.  
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: Curiosity. This trait is expressed in trying to find new ways to deliver programs, exercises, or new classes to our members. Furthermore, curiosity is expressed by asking how will this new thing help my people. We are able to take in all of these “tools” and apply them in the most appropriate way to the correct group of people.
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: My people.
• What motivates you: My members, I want to deliver what they are asking for in the best way for them. That keeps me looking and trying to find the wrinkle in the wellness world that will connect with them.
• What is your favorite hobby: I have a few different hobbies, I like to garden, cook, bake, and some low level home DIY (floating shelves, tiling, what the wife sees on Pinterest and what I figure I can’t make it worse by trying). The through line of these hobbies being challenging myself and figuring out how to do something new.   

   

  Interested in learning more about our staffing services? Click below for what best fits your needs.

  ACTIVE AGING   |   CORPORATE FITNESS

We say it with pride quite regularly, our amazing staff in corporate and senior living fitness centers are what help us serve our clients so well. Their strong educational background in health and fitness helps us set the bar high while their exceptional creativity and relationship building skills allows them to keep their members engaged and asking what’s coming next. Since we have the privilege of getting to know our staff across the country, we thought our followers might like to as well. Join us monthly as we throw a different NIFS team member a High Five.

• Name: Ashley Smith
• City, State: Indianapolis, IN
• Years with NIFS: 13 years
• Position: Coverage Supervisor and Account Manager
• What brought you to NIFS:
  I completed my internship in 2008 in the Fitness Center at NIFS headquarters in Indianapolis, IN. Being a college grad I quickly needed to find a job and one that I had just spent 4 years earning a degree in would be nice!! Corporate Fitness made sense and sounded fun. I applied for a coverage position and spent time floating around the Indianapolis sites NIFS managed which was cool, I also got to meet a TON of really cool people.
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: I think we all experience small and big wins while working with our members each day. It’s always great to see someone hit a goal, gain muscle, knock that PR out of the park or just make it through a tough workout! For me, the most impactful moments were spent creating relationships with members. When you listen to people you learn a lot about them and how to work with them in order to achieve things they didn’t know were possible.
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: Our staff make it personal! They take the time to work with people 1-1 to customize workouts and plans to fit individual needs.
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: We have a great NIFS group at each site, I enjoy getting to chat with everyone each month and seeing staff help each other grow. In addition, we are lucky enough to be asked a couple times a year to help with big onsite events like judging a Bocce Ball Tournament and Run a 5K with the CEO. It’s nice because we all can get together for these events!
• What motivates you: Positivity and Albanese OR Haribo gummy candy… preferably bears, worms, things like this… but I don’t judge a gummy!
• What is your favorite hobby: It’s always changing but currently, I enjoy gardening, house planting, decorating for Halloween, arts and crafts with the kids, front yard baseball, hanging out with family and hiking, well in general just chillin’ in nature! 😊

Interested in learning more about our staffing services? Click below for what best fits your needs.

ACTIVE AGING   |   CORPORATE FITNESS

We say it with pride quite regularly, our amazing staff in corporate and senior living fitness centers are what help us serve our clients so well. Their strong educational background in health and fitness helps us set the bar high while their exceptional creativity and relationship building skills allows them to keep their members engaged and asking what’s coming next. Since we have the privilege of getting to know our staff across the country, we thought our followers might like to as well. Join us monthly as we throw a different NIFS team member a High Five.

• Name: Joy Higbee
• City, State: Indianapolis, IN
• Years with NIFS: 9 years
• Position: Active Aging Program Manager
• What brought you to NIFS: In college, I took Intro to Gerontology as an elective my sophomore year and decided I liked it enough to minor in Gerontology. Once I graduated, I found that I really loved the older adult population and decided to move to Florida to get my Master’s Degree in Gerontology. When I moved back to Indiana, I honestly didn’t know what I was going to do with degrees and passion for fitness and older adults, but I found NIFS after a few months of looking for work and I haven’t looked back!
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: When I was an on-site fitness manager I worked about 20 minutes from where I grew up. As a result, over time I found out there were some distant connections between my family and some of the residents. One such connection was discovered when a resident’s niece came in to visit. They stopped by to say hi and we were all surprised to discover that I already knew her because she is my mom’s best friend. Small world! The impactful moment came when this particular resident passed away and we attended his funeral. He had come to the fitness center daily because that had been his routine since he was young. He didn’t need much guidance from me, but we talked every time he came to work out. At his funeral, I learned about what a difference our fitness program had made to him and how happy it made him to come visit every day. There are lots of stories of how someone lost weight or was able to walk further or other physical changes as a result of group fitness or exercise prescriptions, but it’s the ones where the fitness program made someone smile that have the biggest impact on me.
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: The collective amount of practical experience we have on our team is incredible. Between the managers, assistant managers, health fitness specialists, and coverage staff our Active Aging team has seen it all! Together, there are literally decades of experience within our team. It’s so great to have a group of educated, talented people that you can reach out to when you come up against an obstacle.
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: In my current role, I love that I get to be creative when designing programs. It’s especially rewarding when feedback from the residents comes back around to me and I was able to help create something memorable, enjoyable, and educational for them.
• What motivates you: I like making a difference in people’s lives. I think too many health professions are focused solely on extending quantity of life and not quality of life. Here, we get to do both, but I think that the improved quality of life is what impacts residents the most.
• What is your favorite hobby: Probably backpacking and hiking with my family, but honestly anything outdoors is pretty appealing to me!
  

   

  Interested in learning more about our staffing services? Click below for what best fits your needs.

  ACTIVE AGING   |   CORPORATE FITNESS