COSCO Senior’s Health and Wellness Institute

The Council of Senior Citizens organizations of BC created the Senior’s Health and Wellness Institute in 2007 which has developed 44 (to date) health and safety workshops that are available free of charge to any seniors' group all over BC. 

For those following this blog, you know that I am a big believer in exercise, heating healthy and staying healthy as we age. I joined this program because it lines up with my ideas and values in this area.

I just spent a week being trained as a Facilitator in this program. It was an exciting and very interesting week. I will be presenting four of these workshops in October and I am excited at the opportunity to give back. 

My plan is to give one workshop a week to ease my way into this new adventure. Last year the Institute gave over 300 workshops which reached over 5,000 people.

Each session lasts for approximately 90 minutes and a trained volunteer senior facilitator delivers the program. The workshops contain practical and usable information and are free of technical jargon. 

Participants are encouraged to make concrete plans to create a safe physical environment and to adopt strategies for healthy living.

The focus is a part of a movement to shift away from preoccupation with health after illness and accident to focus on PREVENTION of illness and accidents rather than treatment

Over the last few years, thousands of people throughout B.C. have participated in one of the COSCO Seniors’ Health and Wellness Institute’s free health promotion workshops.  Benefits of this approach:

• Reduced pain and suffering among seniors
• Continued enjoyment of active life in own home and community
• Impact on health care – saving $$$$
• Impact on health care – improved delivery of timely care (e.g. decreased wait time for hip replacement if fewer broken hips)