Ready for our close up!

Exercise video helps bridge gap between staff and clients

Jack LaLanne and Jane Fonda, move over. Full Life Care’s got its own new fitness stars!

Tony Vladaj and Lisa Nott warm up the viewers.

Lisa Nott, Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant; and Tony Vladaj, Occupational Therapy Assistant; teamed up last week to create a way for their Adult Day Health clients to stay fit while obeying the current stay-at-home order mandated by the state because of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

With the help of volunteer videographer Steven A. Rogers, Lisa and Tony are now the stars of “Exercise with Lisa and Tony” on Full Life’s YouTube channel. Their hour-long routine runs viewers through an entire exercise session, complete with stretches, muscle building moves and routines that develop and improve coordination and flexibility.

“Since the Day Health Centers have been closed, we wanted to come up with something we could get our clients involved in and with familiar faces,” said Carol Potter, the licensed Registered Occupational Therapist at the Everett center where Lisa and Tony work. ‘We’re hoping our clients will watch and follow along with the same people they already know and trust.”

During an afternoon of videotaping last week, Lisa and Tony ran through the routine with Steven in the Cecil B. DeMille role. Carol held the cue cards and brought moral support.

On the sound stage.

“Hey, I’m relaxed and ready for this,” Tony said, rolling and flexing his shoulders while Lisa rolled her eyes and laughed.

Regular physical activity is important for all the clients who visit the Day Health centers in Everett, Columbia City and Kent.

“Clients should be doing some moving every day,” Lisa said. “It’s important for them to maintain that flexibility and muscle strength. I just wish they could be with us to do it in person.

“We miss them.”

The video can certainly put a viewer through their paces. But Lisa, as the lead, reminds viewers to take frequent breaks, drink lots of water and cautions them about overdoing it. Each individual has certain abilities, and the routine is designed to work with just about anyone.

The video is just another example of how Full Life remains flexible and responsive in the ongoing health emergency. And that’s in large part because of you, our supporters. We can do this work because we have partners like you who invest in positive and effective solutions.

Stretches for flexibility.