Vol Opps for Healthy Living
By: AARP Outreach & Service | Source: AARP.org | August 2008
Make a Difference to Friends and Family
Invite a friend to join you and register for "Get Fit on Route 66," a free online physical-activity adventure that will inspire you to be more active. Convert your exercise minutes to miles on a virtual journey along America’s most famous highway.Order the "Physical Activities Workbook" for you and friend. Illustrations inside show how to add physical activity to a daily routine without disrupting your schedule or lifestyle. You’ll learn how to get motivated, start safely, set goals that meet your health and fitness needs, develop a support network, and tackle roadblocks. Recruit a friend and double the fun.
Order AARP step counters as gifts for friends and family.
Help loved ones update and distribute their "personal medication record." Our record provides spaces for you to list all your medicines—including the prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs, and dietary supplements—along with the dosing information and how they are taken.
Use our "Medicines Made Easy" guide to show your family members or caregiver how to safely and effectively manage your medications. You'll learn the right questions to ask health care professionals, the importance of tracking medications, and how to compare drugs for effectiveness and cost. The guide also includes a list of questions and a personal medication record to complete and share at doctor and pharmacy visits.
Make a Difference at Your Job
Take a copy of our "Physical Activities Workbook" to your work's human resources department. Illustrations inside show how to add physical activity to a daily routine without disrupting your schedule or lifestyle. You’ll learn how to get motivated, start safely, set goals that meet your health and fitness needs, develop a support network, and tackle roadblocks. Do the exercises with colleagues at lunch so everyone can benefit.
Start a "lunch bunch" walking group.
Distribute AARP's "Pocket Guide to Staying Healthy at 50+" at work. Our handy pocket guide allows you to keep tips and expert advice on good health habits, screening tests, and immunizations at your fingertips.
Make a Difference in your Community
Share a copy of our "Physical Activities Workbook" with your congregation or community center. Illustrations inside show how to add physical activity to a daily routine without disrupting your schedule or lifestyle. You’ll learn how to get motivated, start safely, set goals that meet your health and fitness needs, develop a support network, and tackle roadblocks. Assign specific times where a group can meet up to do the exercises together!
Make a personal commitment to improve fitness for midlife and older adults through the Lifelong Fitness Alliance's Fitness Ambassador walking program. Established by the alliance in collaboration with AARP, the Fitness Ambassador Team believes that peer encouragement is the strongest motivator for people to engage in physical activity. Fitness Ambassadors organize their own weekly walking programs as part of the Stepping Strong program. On average each walking group includes eight to 10 people. The Lifelong Fitness Alliance Provides the training and programmatic support.
Fitness Ambassadors provide information, opportunity, and incentive to older adults in their communities to get moving and healthy. Being a world-class athlete is certainly not a prerequisite. Fitness Ambassadors are everyday people, such as retirees and people interested in health and fitness. Ambassadors are simply passionate about helping people stay as fit and well as possible. A Fitness Ambassador could be your brother who only recently took up walking, the woman who delivers Meals on Wheels, the person who lives next door, your priest or rabbi…or it could be you! For more information, contact step@lifelongfitnessalliance.org.
Talk to your spiritual leader about implementing a 10-week walking program using AARP’s Walking Program.
Form a walking group including friends and acquaintances, such as:
- Your book club
- Your neighbors
- Other dog owners
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