If you have a chronic disease – such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma or back or joint pain – exercise can have important health benefits. However, it’s important to talk to your doctor before starting an exercise routine. He or she might have advice on what exercises are safe and any precautions you might need to take while exercising.
 
Here are some of the things you need to know about exercise and chronic disease.
 
• Heart disease. Regular exercise can help improve your heart health. Recent studies have shown that interval training is often tolerated well in people with heart disease, and it can produce significant benefits.
 
• For people with high blood pressure, exercise can lower your risk of dying of heart disease and lower the risk of heart disease progressing.
 
• Diabetes. Regular exercise can help insulin more effectively lower your blood sugar level. Physical activity can also help you control your weight and boost your energy. If you have type 2 diabetes, exercise can lower your risk of dying of heart disease.
 
• Asthma. Exercise often can help control the frequency and severity of asthma attacks.
 
• Back pain. Regular low-impact aerobic activities can increase strength and endurance in your back and improve muscle function. Abdominal and back muscle exercises – core-strengthening exercises – may help reduce symptoms by strengthening the muscles around your spine.
 
• Arthritis. Exercise can reduce pain, maintain muscle strength in joints and reduce joint stiffness. It can also improve physical function and quality of life for people who have arthritis.
 
• Cancer. Exercise can improve the quality of life for people who’ve had cancer, and it can also improve their fitness. Exercise can also lower the risk of dying from breast, colorectal and prostate cancer.
 
• Dementia. Exercise can improve cognition in people with dementia, and people who are active on a regular basis are at less risk of dementia and cognitive impairment.
 
Source: Courtesy of the Mayo Clinic.

​Officials from the city of Broken Arrow, together with Broken Arrow Seniors, Inc., broke ground April 13 on the new Senior Center East, located at 1811 S. Main St.
 
“Broken Arrow has long been a community that supports senior citizens and diverse recreation programs,” City Manager Michael Spurgeon said. “This new facility will provide much-needed room for expansion in both programming and office space as the membership continues to grow.”
 
The two-part municipal project consists of a new one-story building, as well as parking and much-needed storm water improvements.
 
The 12,400-square-foot building will include two multipurpose rooms, multiple meeting rooms and an exercise room. Paid for by voter-approved 2018 general obligation bonds, the project is expected to be completed by next summer.
 
“With this second building, we will be able to expand our program offerings from 75 activities a week to more than 125,” according to BA Seniors President and Chief Executive Officer Sean Simpson. “We will grow from 20,000 square feet to 32,000 square feet.”

The board of directors is excited about reopening the Center, and we will reopen in the right way. The program offerings beginning in April are selected based on the CDC’s guidelines, the availability and commitment of activity leaders, time and day accessibility and member interest.

In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its first set of recommendations on activities that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can safely resume.

Specific language described in the CDC announcement recommended that fully vaccinated people continue to take these COVID-19 precautions when in public, when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple other households and when around unvaccinated people who are at high risk of getting severely ill from COVID-19: Wear a well-fitted mask and stay at least 6 feet from people you do not live with.

When the Center reopens on April 12, members entering the building will wear face coverings the entire time – from entrance, though the activities and upon exit. This will continue until the CDC guidance changes. This guidance represents a first step toward returning to everyday activities in our community.

It is also the first step toward the BA Senior Center’s programs and activities returning to pre-COVID levels. Be patient the next few months, and, before you know it, your Center experience will return to pre-2020 levels.

Every day, hundreds of Oklahomans join the V-Club. Oklahoma’s vaccine rollout is wide open, and virtually anyone who is eligible to receive the vaccine can get it. Moderna. Pfizer. J & J. They are all available, which means if you want to get vaccinated, you can. And as the number of vaccinated adults over the age of 55 increases, access to the BA Senior Center will increase as well.

• We want our members to be seated at a table, catching up with friends and family.
• We want to reclaim the social interaction that we all crave and that we’ve missed the past weeks and months – the social interaction that prior to a vaccine could get you sick or worse.

Return to the BA Senior Center – but wear a mask and social distance. Be safe.

​The Broken Arrow Seniors Board of Directors
​Johnnie Parks, chair
Kimberly Crenshaw
Melissa Cruts
Lisa Ford
Brittany Littleton
Yvette Martinez
Michayne Morris
Laura Voss-Phillips
Jackie Pizarro
Phil Scott
Walter Still
Alison Verret
Steve Yoder