RIO GRANDE - Dottie Drake, owner and founder of Fitness First for Women and Seniors, recently traveled to Boston to talk with fitness experts Stephen Austin, senior fitness advocate, and Dr. Jessica Hodge, associate professor of nutrition
at Farmington State College, to discuss her exercise and nutrition program.
Dr. Wayne Wescott, exercises physiologist, acknowledges Drake's program is
even more productive than short-term research studies due to her attention to
her member's needs.
Dr. William Statson, Harvard and Cornell cardiologist, asked Drake for a Fitness
First equivalent in the Cambridge area. He hopes that Fitness First will be
considering multiple expansions in the new future.
Dr. Miriam Nelson, director of the Center for Physical Fitness at the USDA
Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tutts University and author of books
on the benefits of exercise and nutrition for women's health, wants to see 100
new fitness clubs like Drake's in the next year to carry the program to the
world.
President of the Geriatric Section of the American Physical Therapists Association
, Dr, Jennifer Bottomley, believes that the benefit seen in the members of Drake's
club could be the basis for important research on seniors who exercise4.
The director of the Industrial Design Department at the school, Khipra Nichols
and instructor Soojumg Ham are both interested in working with Drake and Fitness
First to address problems in fitness centers for seniors, potentially by designing
new exercise equipment.
Drake will be teaching students at RISD about the benefits of exercise for
seniors, as well as the need for change in the fitness environment.
The experts agreed that Drake's program is revolutionizing the senior and deconditioned
population that the traditional health club industry is not reaching.
Fitness First for Women and Seniors Heath Clubs are located in Rio Grande,
Seaville and Smithville
