Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

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: Tim Parrot
• City, State: Nashville, TN
• Years with NIFS: Four years
• Position: Fitness Manager
• What brought you to NIFS: I came onboard with NIFS as a health fitness specialist near Chicago, IL. I was attracted to the opportunity to help older adults live longer, better lives using my education and fitness skillset.
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: While a typical workweek is full of hundreds of interactions with members, I’m always encouraged when any member fights through a hard life event. While some breeze through surgeries or other setbacks, other members have a really hard time coming back. Working with Physical Therapy and other community leadership that value NIFS, I am impacted whenever I get to be a part of their recovery.
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: NIFS has done a great job distancing ourselves from the inconsistent staffing standards of the fitness industry at large. Based on the need for experience, education, and specialized certification when working closely with older adults, NIFS sets the bar pretty high. Another huge distinguishing factor are the supervisors that communicate clearly and welcome conversations about new ideas.
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: My favorite thing about working at my client site is being part of a community that prioritizes and invests in the health and wellness of their residents. A big example of this is the Healthy Life Center that will soon celebrate 2 years of operation. Having an intentionally designed fitness center, pool, and dedicated group exercise studio makes all the difference in my work and residents’ lives.
• What motivates you: I am motivated by an internal drive to be the best husband, father, and version of myself that I can be.
• What is your favorite hobby: I love to woodwork and have created lots of furniture and cooking accessories for our home.
  
  

  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: Luci Wyatt
• City, State: Indianapolis, IN
• Years with NIFS: 2.5 years
• Position: Fitness Center Manager
• What brought you to NIFS: I didn’t learn about NIFS until after I graduated from college (UIndy). I saw the job posting and as any good candidate would, I researched the company. After that, I was drawn in by the research partnership that NIFS has with IUPUI and that NIFS is a very unique commercial fitness center by being the only one. Furthermore, that the main NIFS building was the site for the Panam Games.
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: There are so many to choose from! From providing challenging workouts to the active aging members, to my most recent feed back from a special member, but the one that sticks out the most would be when I was managing a corporate site, I had a member start coming to my group fitness classes that was in need of motivation. She started unable to do most of the core exercises, even with modifications. I kept encouraging her to just try her best and that time will be the key. Sure enough, about 6 months in she was able to keep up with me in the core class and even hang in there some of the younger class goers.
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: Working for the corporate fitness side of NIFS, we are able to be literally and figuratively closer to our members. We have more of an idea of what the work environment is like for our members and can meet the needs of what their “long day” brings. We can also encourage our members to come see us at the fitness center when the fitness center is usually just steps away from their desk. This advantage helps build confidence and consistency in our members’ returning for services.
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: I enjoy the different backgrounds of people, like, we have engineers, graphic designers, lawyers, executives, account managers, and the like. When all of these different people come to the gym, it seems to level the playing field. And of course, when I would teach in person group fitness, I’m the boss!
• What motivates you: It’s cliché but, I love working with people. To define “working with”, I love to get to know them on a personal level, what their likes and dislikes are outside of fitness, how they decided to take the path they are on for their career and so on. I love the stories that people carry with them, depending on their age, they could be walking time capsules. When members reach out to me about wanting to participate in a program or service, it’s my chance to become part of their story.
• What is your favorite hobby: I love to garden and tend to my house plants! It’s always exciting to get a new plant baby.

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: Tylene Costello
• City, State: Howell, MI
• Years with NIFS: 1 year, 8 months
• Position: Director of Lifestyle and Health
• What brought you to NIFS: Throughout my fitness career, I have always enjoyed working with seniors. Many years ago, I worked at another wellness and fitness facility. I had to create programs for post-rehabilitation, pool programs, and was introduced to Silver Sneakers, a government subsidized senior fitness program. I loved teaching Silver Sneakers classes, and teaching and educating the older population on the multiple facets of fitness training. Several years later, I was in search of a similar position, and that is where I found a listing for a part-time health fitness specialist with NIFS. I have loved every minute that I have been working for the Active Aging group for NIFS at my community location.
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member:  There are too many special moments that I have shared with members. I can’t pick one. Each and every one of my members have such a unique and interesting background and history. I love that they share memories of their families, and past jobs with me. I really enjoy when they come into my office and just want to talk about their day. Each and every moment that I get to learn about them has made an impact on my life.
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: I think what separates us the most is that we learn about our community. We make fitness fun. We form communities of people and social groups. We make fitness an overall healthier well-being physically and emotionally.
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: I love my job! I love my co-workers and especially the members and residents. They make every day coming into work fun and enjoyable. It is a blessing in my life.
• What motivates you: My members motivate me. They are so full of life and energy. I love observing my ninety year old members walking, exercising, and using the machines. They are a strong group of people.
• What is your favorite hobby: My favorite hobby is being active with my family. I love to hit the gym with my 13 year old son, and 16 year old girl. I love ice-fishing, fishing, hiking, shooting bows, and spending time with them. Both of my kids are on the archery teams (one in middle school, and one in high school), I love watching them shoot. My daughter also dances, and I love watching her perform. But it is always nice, to sit and relax with a good movie and chill.

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: Maddie DeVries
• City, State: Hershey, PA
• Years with NIFS: 1 year
• Position: Health Fitness Specialist
• What brought you to NIFS: I was working in a similar corporate wellness role at Delta Air Lines in Atlanta, GA. When my now-husband had the opportunity to move to PA, it was my dream to work in the same role. I was fortunate enough to step into that role with NIFS!
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: It was with my Active & Ageless (Silver Sneakers) ladies – they are a fun and sweet bunch. We try to make the class fun and social while also getting in some movement and flexibility. They told me how much they look forward to the class each week, and how much they love trying all of the fun and innovative exercises. They were so invested in my wedding planning and new life as a southern girl in PA, and I love hearing about all their jobs before their retirement. Their excitement made me so excited to teach them each week!  
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: It takes a real people-person to be a NIFS fitness pro! High-energy, sociable, personable, and compassionate in addition to knowing the science and the exercise physiology.
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: The people are the sweetest. Everyone was incredibly kind and welcoming, and it didn’t take long for me to feel like a part of the family here.
• What motivates you: It sounds cheesy, but helping others is what motivates me! I want to do my best within myself so that I can give my best to others. Sometimes that means taking a break and doing some self-care, sometimes that means lifting some weights, and sometimes that means cooking a yummy meal.
• What is your favorite hobby: I have recently began dabbling in photography. It has been such a fun hobby!

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: Jaclyn Ruemmler
• City, State: Indianapolis, IN
• Years with NIFS: A little over a year
• Position: Fitness Center Manager
• What brought you to NIFS: I was working in corporate wellness in North Carolina for about a year before I decided to move to Indianapolis with my boyfriend. I really enjoyed corporate wellness and working with a variety of people so after doing my job research, NIFS seemed like a perfect fit! I like that it is a smaller company, but with sites all over the country and a very welcoming atmosphere.
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: Through our virtual Personal Fitness Quest program, I have been able to work with a variety of employees. I worked with one woman who had been quite sedentary her whole life and had poor range of motion with her movements. She was very excited to participate in this program and was determined to improve her health. After a course of 4 weeks, she had improved her shoulder range of motion and was moving much smoother. She had a step goal set for everyday and always came to our sessions with a positive attitude. Now she continues her workouts and stays active with our online offerings.
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: We all bring something different to the table with certifications, education, background, etc. but our overall goal as a staff is to improve the wellbeing of our members. We use creative, fun ways to interact with our members and always encourage them to accomplish their fitness goals.
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: I love the facility and the people, we work with all kinds of people with different fitness goals and I enjoy helping them reach those goals. Also, the virtual programming has been awesome, I have been able to work with people all over the world.
• What motivates you: I love seeing members enjoy a group fitness class, accomplish a fitness goal, or really enjoy a program we run. These all motivate me to be creative and continue to work hard.
• What is your favorite hobby: I enjoy running and staying active outside (when it is warm!). I also enjoying exploring the city and surrounding areas with my boyfriend and friends.

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: Moira Cogswell
• City, State: Indianapolis, IN
• Years with NIFS: Almost 2 years
• Position: Assistant Manager, Active Aging
• What brought you to NIFS: I knew about NIFS throughout my undergraduate schooling since many of our hands-on labs were at NIFS.  I was working in Minnesota and wanted to make the move back to Indiana and a good friend of mine was a corporate site fitness center manager, and she referred me to NIFS.  The rest is history!
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member:  There is a member of the fitness center that had not worked out regularly.  We were able to work together in finding an exercise prescription that worked for her wants and the needs we saw during a fitness evaluation.  I have been able to see her not only build her strength and abilities, but also her confidence when walking into the fitness center.  Now she comes to me asking about various exercises she has seen or incorporating functional exercises that she thinks she can improve upon.
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: With NIFS being nation-wide, there is a wide support system that you can go to to help keep classes interesting, programs fresh, and to be able to ask for general guidance on situations that may arise.  NIFS Staff members not only care about the members of their fitness centers, but also helping their peers!
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: The variety in the clients – they are in their second childhood as many of them would say.  I can help them find a balance that works for their lifestyle, but also enable them to live their best lives by teaching them the 'why' so they understand.
• What motivates you: Seeing the members improve is exciting.  When they tell me that they feel the difference, and they desire to challenge themselves is satisfying.
• What is your favorite hobby: I really enjoy spending time outside on Lake Michigan or gardening, lifting weights, and spending time with my family and friends (when we are not in a pandemic)!

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: Jordan Matthews
• Years with NIFS: a little over 3 years
• Position: Fitness Center Manager
• What brought you to NIFS: Learned about NIFS Fitness Management through a friend
• What is the most impactful moment you have shared with a member: When I was working as a health fitness specialist in coverage I worked with an individual at one of our senior living communities. We worked together for 3 months to build enough quad and core strength to stand from the chair without using the chair arms. After 3 months we not only achieved our goal but they performed 9 more after that!  
• What separates a NIFS fitness pro from the rest: The amount of care that is placed in every question, group fitness class, and training session. The trainers at NIFS show a passionate desire to try and help each person they encounter!
• What is your favorite thing about working at your client site: The atmosphere that we have created at my client site is as close to a family as I’ve ever been outside of my own. Some employee’s look at the fitness center as a stress reliver and that is a testament to the positive atmosphere created. Running programs with employees at this site are fun and exciting.
• What motivates you: I focus on what I preach to all my clients, “try to get 1% better every day”. I work with around 15 individual clients and they all have different goals that they want to achieve. Learning better ways to help clients towards there goals and motivating them to continue after there goals are reached.
• What is your favorite hobby: I enjoy playing sports with my friends (as long as I don’t get hurt). I also, due to my competitiveness I love to play board games at home! One of my favorites is Monopoly.

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

ACTIVE AGING   |   CORPORATE FITNESS

This series features insights on developing a robust wellness-based lifestyle at your community. Some content will cover practical tips and some will identify barriers to achieving success meant to spark conversation within your community. In part 1, I talked about defining wellness and the importance of how you use that word in branding. Read on for part 2.

Staff who work in senior living communities are some of the most compassionate, dedicated, and often creative people you will meet. Their plates are full, their to-do lists are long, and it can be a heavy lift to bring down the silos between departments, which is necessary to truly cultivate balanced lifestyle offerings for residents.

The problem is not that the staff are resistant to meeting with other stakeholders in resident well-being, having more dialogue, or planning differently. (Notice here I said planning differently—not planning more. That is the key to this approach.) It’s that there is often a missing link in bringing these different people, talents, and departments together in a sustainable fashion.

Identify a Wellness Champion

This is where it is critical that communities identify their wellness champion. This person can act as a catalyst in eliminating the silos and bringing everyone together to work from a unified vision of how lifestyle offerings and services are delivered to residents.

In NIFS’ case, where our staff members are regularly referring residents to therapy and the Registered Dietitian, or collaborating with activities or dining staff, shifting our onsite Fitness Manager’s focus to a Wellness Coordinator role has been a great fit in many client settings. It’s often a natural progression because residents and other departments are already accustomed to our staff bringing people together and fostering collaboration.

Our degreed and certified staff act as educators with community staff, and they also learn how to best tap into the personal passions and interests of the team members to improve buy-in to the process. After all, they’ve already been working with many of these stakeholders for some time on other programs. Now they are simply bringing everyone to the table with improved consistency and more structure.

Here are three tips when considering how to identify your wellness champion:

• Your champion should talk the talk and walk the walk if they are going to advocate for the message of wellness and collaboration for your community. Ask yourself, “Who would be a good spokesperson at our community to message our wellness program to prospective residents?”
• Your champion should have strong communication and interpersonal skills to foster collaboration among your wellness team. They should be able to determine how to tap into the personal passions and talents of those on the team to leverage strengths and improve buy-in.
• Your champion should be well organized and have strong attention to detail. After all, they are the individual responsible for keeping the team organized, establishing timelines for special events, tracking completion of tasks, and more. The champion is once again that catalyst bringing everyone together and being responsible for maintaining cohesion among the team, so they must be organized.

Help from NIFS Consulting Services

Does your community need support identifying who your wellness champion is or how to shift roles and responsibilities to support this type of position? NIFS consulting services can help you answer those questions and many more to support a collaborative approach to wellness planning.

Variety is the spice of life, and that’s what we’ll have in town this week at our annual managers’ meeting. Each year we fly our management team to our headquarters in Indianapolis for professional development, collaboration, and networking. Our passionate team arrives from across the U.S. from different client settings and with varying personal interests and backgrounds. Their one commonality is their passion for serving their members, and we love the dialogue and collaboration that unfold when everyone gets together.

3 Benefits of Collaboration for Fitness Staff

This connection and access to a wealth of resources is one of the strongest value elements we bring to our clients. They receive our onsite fitness staff managing their program and building relationships with members, plus the expertise of a national organization doing this work across the U.S. How does this routine collaboration truly elevate a fitness program?

• They don’t feel like they are on an island. As a fitness professional in a corporate or senior living setting, it can feel like you are isolated without resources or like-minded individuals who have similar goals and job duties. NIFS has routine meetings, workshops, and events like our annual meeting in Indianapolis to bring new ideas, resources, and inspiration to your fitness program, keeping things fresh and exciting for your members as well as your fitness staff.
• They can benefit from vetted programs and promotions. Sometimes it can be hard to execute a vision for a program or determine how to best reach a group of individuals because you aren’t quite sure how to get started or you are concerned about unanticipated road bumps along the way. NIFS managers regularly connect on a variety of platforms to discuss new ideas and ask for feedback among their peers. This provides members at our client sites with more finely tuned and professional programming.
• They are connected to the latest trends. Fitness is a trendy industry, whether you are working with children, the general population, or seniors. By having staff from the four corners of the U.S. and a little bit of everywhere in between, this broad reach keeps our team connected to not only what is trending but how to educate and market new programming to members in our client settings.

3 Tips to Garner Collaboration for Fitness Staff

So what do you do if you aren’t connected to an organization like NIFS to help keep your staff connected?

• Professional development: Provide funding to send your staff to workshops to help them stay plugged into the industry. Without an organizational connection they might still miss opportunities to learn how others are effectively implementing that type of programming in your setting, but it can certainly lead to some fresh ideas and keep staff inspired.
• Create a network: Do you have neighboring communities or businesses with staffed fitness centers with which you could encourage collaboration? Perhaps there’s a network of senior living communities in your town where the fitness staff could get together once a quarter for idea sharing. Perhaps your group fitness instructors, trainers, and fitness manager at your corporate site could meet once a quarter to discuss what they are hearing from members, share ideas to attract new participants, etc. Your network can be in-house with existing personnel or branching out, but creating space for discussion among like-minded individuals can be advantageous.
• Identify a strong contact: Whether or not someone at your setting is in-tune with the fitness industry, make sure your fitness staff has someone who has a good listening ear and an understanding of your fitness program’s goals. Fitness staff can feel less isolated in their decision-making when they have a partner at the site level who understands the work they are doing, and when they have someone in their corner for brainstorming or discussing member needs.

This collaboration is where the magic happens in taking a fitness program from good to great!

Fitness management is the cornerstone of our business. Recently we have seen an uptick in clients requesting our support in developing broader wellness programming for their residents through the continuums of care. Sometimes the need arises due to challenges with community personnel who don’t have the tools and resources to cultivate the desired lifestyle for residents. Sometimes it’s because they don’t have a point person to pull everyone together out of their silos across the continuums. Sometimes it’s both! Sound familiar?

How Well Is Your Community Collaborating on Purposeful Programs?

Ask yourself a few questions about how well your community is collaborating and building programs with purpose and intention:

• Do activities staff collaborate regularly on program and service options across departments and disciplines such as dining, fitness, health services, the chaplain, and the social worker?
• Do activities staff across all continuums of care collaborate regularly on programs and services and work toward common goals together?
• Is your calendar full of activities to keep your residents busy (for example, cards, movies, speakers, shopping trips, and so on), or is your calendar crafted with activities that create purpose for residents?

A Visit with a Senior Living Client in New Jersey

I provided a solution to these answers during a recent visit with a senior living client in New Jersey. We have been providing our traditional fitness management services to this client for the past four years. The approach we discussed was shifting our degreed and certified staff into a Wellness Director role, who maintains fitness duties in the fitness center while also facilitating a strong collaborative approach with activities personnel in independent living and health care.

This particular client has come to expect creative and diverse program offerings from our Fitness Manager. Events offered last month for Active Aging Week included Yoga Poses and Doggy Noses (yep, that’s yoga with dogs folks), a Blood Drive, and Movies & Smoothies. Past events included their Polar Plunge, Mind Moves, and Healthy Habit Bingo. As the client recognizes the experiences we create for residents that promote engagement and movement versus sit-and-listen events, they begin to lean on us to support them more broadly outside the realm of fitness. We are also seeing a strong desire for the standard of programming cultivated within independent living to carry consistently through assisted living and health care environments. But we are aware of the struggle communities have to bring that to fruition.

NIFS Staff Members Make the Difference

Our strength lies in the people we hire—in their ability to build exceptional relationships with the residents who participate in their programs and also with the staff at the community with whom they collaborate regularly. Their background as health and fitness professionals empowers them with program solutions to support whole-person well-being. The tools and resources they have behind them from NIFS create the space for strategic planning with key stakeholders in resident well-being.

We essentially become a champion for your community by fueling ideas, breaking down the silos, and getting everyone working from the same playbook on a new standard of program and service offerings. If you are interested in hearing more about NIFS's support of broader wellness programming within your senior living communities, contact me or read on.