The Beverly and Marblehead YMCAs have partnered with a nonprofit health care organization to provide fitness classes to survivors of strokes and other brain injuries.
Woburn-based Supportive Living Inc. offers a Neuro-Fit program designed to enable survivors to regain strength, mobility, and independence. The classes use adaptive equipment on physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional fitness activities to improve functions and skill that may have been affected by a neurological disorder, officials said.
“Each individual has their own personalized plan that best fits their needs,” said Lindsay Weir, Supportive Living’s director of neuro-wellness and education. “It’s also great for socialization because it’s a safe community for them, and there’s not a lot of programs that offer one-on-one assistance when that’s really important.”
The one-hour classes typically have about four participants, allowing for one-on-one instruction to help participants work towards specific and individualized fitness goals. While some participants take Neuro-fit classes concurrently with their physical or occupational therapy, others are joining the class to ensure that the restorative progress they have made won’t be set back when leaving therapy.
“A lot of participants are coming out of PT or OT, and their therapist will recommend our program,” Weir said. “And I’ll talk to them about their long-term goals and what they were working on in therapy so that we can continue that exercise plan. It’s important not to come off that therapy and then be sedentary at home.
“We’re different from PT and OT because those are insurance-based, while we can try to do whatever we want to make sure it’s a more well-rounded program, rather than focusing on one specific need,” she said.
In addition to Neuro-Fit’s course teachers, the program also has an internship program with North Shore students from schools like Salem State University, Endicott College, Gordon College, or North Shore Community College. The interns work alongside staff to create and implement individualized exercise programs while gaining hands-on experience in health care and neurology, Supportive Living said.
For stroke survivors like Mary Borrelli, the combination of the crucial support from the Neuro-Fit program and their own determination has allowed them to regain a lot of the mobility and balance that was previously lost.
“I’ve been doing the program for five years, and I still love going twice a week,” Berelli, who previously suffered a stroke, said. “I’ve always wanted to improve my gait and balance, and I set two long-term and two-short term goals, and I think now I’ve done them all.
“I’m able to do a sit-to-stand just fine, and I’m able to lift my right leg up when before I wasn’t able to, now I’m trying to walk on a treadmill without getting crooked,” she said. “It’s marvelous because I have my PT and OT, and they will give me ideas that I will bring here to add to the program.”
SLI offers the Neuro-Fit program at their Neuro-Wellness and Education Center in Lexington, the Greater Beverly YMCA, the Lynch/van Otterloo YMCA in Marblehead, and the Merrimack Valley YMCA in Andover.
This year, 120 people are participating in the weekly programs, officials said.
For more information on SLI and the Neuro-Fit program, visit supportivelivinginc.org.
Michael McHugh can be contacted at mmchugh@northofboston.com or at 781-799-5202