Exercise program at Gundersen St. Elizabeth’s aims to help adults with disabilities

For adults with disabilities who live in supportive housing facilities, getting the proper amount of exercise each day isn’t always easy. Recognizing this and seeing a need in its community, Gundersen St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and Clinics is stepping in to offer an opportunity for these adults to get the movement they need.

Recently, the hospital system teamed up with Great River Homes, an organization that provides housing and services to people with a variety of disabilities in Wabasha County, to bring its residents into the hospital’s rehabilitation facility to work out on its exercise equipment. 

Two days a week for 12 weeks, residents of Great River Homes’ six Wabasha and two Lake City homes have a dedicated hour for them and their peers to work with Gundersen St. Elizabeth’s clinical exercise physiologists to achieve their fitness goals, which are tailored specifically around each person’s needs and physical abilities.

'No reason we couldn't do that here'

The program was the idea of Gundersen St. Elizabeth’s physical therapist Jared Peterson. During a previous seven-year stint at the hospital, Peterson got to know the management at Great River Homes and the services the organization provides. He left for job in Rochester at a facility that invited people with disabilities to exercise. But eventually, he returned to Wabasha, and with him, he brought the idea of working with the residents of Great River Homes.

“There’s no reason we couldn’t do that here, and it’s always been in the back of my head,” Peterson says. 

He spoke with a supervisor at the home, asking if there’d be interest in an exercise program at the hospital. Right away, the supervisor identified at least 10 people who’d love the opportunity to use the equipment. 

So, Peterson approached Carla Theusch, the rehabilitation services manager at the hospital, with the proposal. 

“I was worried because so many times in the corporate world, we hear, ‘No, we’re not going to do this,’” he says. “Carla said, ‘Yeah, we can do that. We can make this happen.’”

“I loved it. I thought it was a great idea,” Theusch says. 

Residents given a Fresh Start

Theusch took it from there and folded the residents’ participation into the already-established Fresh Start program, which serves people in the community who need exercise for various reasons. Several of the residents have worked out there separately in the past, but never as a large group with their peers. 

“I never thought it would be more fun to have them here all at the same time,” she says. “That was a new idea I welcomed, for sure.”

Prior to the first session, hospital providers met with each resident individually to learn about their medical history, but also to get a sense of what activities they like. The idea is to find out what their goals are, then help the residents achieve them by the end of the program.

“We definitely want them to lead the way, and then we just make it happen,” Theusch says, adding that 13 people showed up for the first session. 

Some residents are more restricted than others due to their physical limitations, but rehab staff have found ways to adapt pieces of equipment for their use. However, they don’t have free range on all the machines right away. Like other patients, staff works with them to gradually build upon their progress in order to advance to more challenging exercises, like weightlifting. 

Once the residents reach the end of the 12-week program, staff provides them with ways they can maintain their progress – be it at the hospital, at home or at other exercise facilities. 

But for now, Gundersen St. Elizabeth’s is happy to host them in its space. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.

“They are the most fun group to work with,” Peterson says. “If you come in when they’re in there exercising, they’re all just having fun, pedaling away and smiling from ear to ear. They’re just excited to be doing something, and it’s so cool.”

He adds that their participation is as good for the hospital employees of as it is for the residents. 

“They come in and they light up the room,” he says. “That’s what’s so cool.”