Fit for Life

As a result, a loose coalition of area agencies joined forces to create the Fit for Life program to provide medical supervision so area residents with these and other health conditions could safely participate in an exercise program. Coalition members included Adirondack Medical Center, local fitness and outdoor recreational facilities, a local health food store, the Saranac Lake Adult Center, and the Adirondack Wellness Movement. The target service area included three major population centers—Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake, and Lake Placid—and covered portions of Franklin, Essex, Hamilton, St. Lawrence, and Clinton counties.

To reinforce lifestyle changes, Fit for Life combined the exercise program with education opportunities, including a support group led by a clinical psychologist, lectures delivered by local health providers, shopping trips to a local health food store, cooking workshops, and outdoor activities that helped participants realize exercise can be fun, social, and successfully integrated into their everyday lives. For example, the project partnered with local ski areas, which provided equipment and facility passes at no cost to participants. Similarly, Lake Placid Health and Fitness allowed Fit for Life participants to attend its water aerobics class once a week.

Three different locations throughout a large service area offered Fit for Life in order to make the program accessible. This was critical because patients who desperately need a routine exercise regimen are unlikely to drive 60 miles to participate. The project decided to bring Fit for Life to the people who needed it.

In addition, the project offered a post-Fit for Life program for those in the program for 3 months, which enabled participants to continue exercising at the facility where they were comfortable and had established relationships, while at the same time giving them ongoing access to Fit for Life staff members so they could ask questions. It also helped to link program graduates to new participants so they could share experience and advice, provide support, and reinforce that a health-positive lifestyle can be achieved.

The program survey showed that the vast majority of participants found the program conveniently located and accessible, reported being comfortable with staff, and felt comfortable in the exercise facility. More than two-thirds went on to purchase a membership at the facility where they exercised.

Insurance coverage for preventive exercise programs is the biggest problem that the project was not able to solve. Medicare does not cover the cost of such services. Some insurance companies are willing to reimburse for exercise programs, but the program could not bill private insurance companies or Medicare. Fit for Life can be reimbursed for the physical therapist’s initial evaluation, but not for the exercise specialist and medically supervised exercise time.

This grant made this program possible as the partner organizations most likely would not have been able to come up with sufficient startup capital. It is hoped that more insurance companies will become willing to reimburse such services and provide the revenue necessary to sustain these types of programs.

When grant funding ended, the project promoted the exercise specialist, after extensive training, to the clinical coordinator position. Staff members at each site include an exercise specialist, an athletic trainer, and a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant. All programs developed at the three sites as a result of the grant will continue unchanged.