The St. Croix Senior Collaborative, a seniors group in its third year, is beginning free classes for people over 60 to teach them to live with the fear of falling and to prevent debilitating falls through education and exercise to lead productive lives.
The SCSC, founded by Bill and Linda Garvin, is a nonprofit organization within the St. Croix Foundation whose approximately 45 members meet monthly, usually at the AARP office in Sunny Isle. The mission is to support elderly St. Croix residents with programs, services and events. Speakers about health issues from Puerto Rico, air ambulance service and social services have spoken to the group in the past.
According to the Garvins, the group is focusing currently on two projects: A Matter of Balance classes and creating a Village to Village program – a challenging and alternative plan for seniors who live alone.
The husband and wife team were trained last October to teach coaches, with the support of AARP and Continuum of Care, and with a grant from the Benny Benjamin Foundation allows them to train others and offering free the fear of falling course.
The Matter of Balance program was developed 30 years ago by Boston University and SCSC plans to offer the course to as many as 600 seniors on St. Croix and St. Thomas in the next year. Almost 20 people are enrolled in two courses being offered now at Frederiksted Health Care Inc. and St. Patrick’s Catholic School. Another class will begin Feb. 27 at Beach Side Café in Frederiksted and Feb. 28 at the Red Cross Center in Sunny Isle.
The Garvins have trained others to teach classes at the Richmond Senior Center and Flambouyant Gardens elderly housing managed by Lutheran Social Services. They are looking for rent-free locations to hold classes that have parking and are easily accessible to older residents.
“We want this thing to be self-sustaining,” Bill Garvin said.
Many older adults sustain serious falls in their later years, often breaking bones such as an arm, leg or even hip. A Matter of Balance consists of eight sessions that include balancing and flexibility exercises and learning the risks of falling, fall hazards and prevention. One session looks at activities that are and are not fall risk-taking and another stresses how to shift from self-defeating to self-motivating thoughts.
According to Garvin, there may be 14,000 residents over the age of 60 living on St. Croix. The Village to Village concept allows the elderly to live on their own as long as possible with peer support. The concept was started in Boston 15 years ago, and there are now developments in 45 states.
According to the Garvins, the idea for the St. Croix program begins with each member designating a buddy to communicate with daily and through community members, services such as transportation, shopping, home repairs and a health advocate will be provided.
“It’s seniors getting together to cover each others’ backs,” Bill Garvin said.
The SCSC receives support from AARP, the Continuum of Care along with Benny Benjamin Foundation and several small donors, but no government support. They plan to form their own 501 c3 in the near future.
“We realized we weren’t going to be able to count on any agency on this island. We’d have to do it ourselves” and the plan is to do just that, Bill Gavin said.
For more information about the SCSC or classes, call 340-690-3002.
