On our radio show this past weekend, we highlighted the Gray Institute for Functional Transformation program, known as GIFT. Our guest Doug Gray, the director of GIFT with the Gray Institute in Adrian, provided insights on this innovative program.

The GIFT program is a 40-week mentorship program for those involved with movement — physical therapists, fitness trainers, athletic trainers. It’s for those who already have their initial certification or licensing. It’s sort of a real world master's-level program.

Like much of the available training at the Gray Institute, this is distance learning — meaning it’s online and through DVDs. The GIFT program is in its fifth year and has already graduated close to 400 people across the U.S. and in the far corners of the world.

The Gray Institute works with all populations, including seniors. The staff practices “tweakology”, tweaking the movements for the specific person they are helping. With seniors, exercises are often tweaked to promote flexibility.

The other neat term the institute uses is “mostability”, combining motion with stability. This is about how the body wants to move and function.

Doug encourages training for seniors that supports what they are most interested in. If an individual loves to garden, the fitness program should support that goal.

To listen to the 12-minute discussion with Doug, click the audio link:

To get in touch with Doug, the Gray Institute, or to learn more about the many DVDs available, please visit the organization's website, grayinstitute.com, or email info@grayinstitute.com.

Our next guest was Lynne Lande with the Kiwanis Club of Ann Arbor.

Lynne is a past two-time club president and one of the first women to join the club back in 1987. She describes the organization as a “great group of people with a heart for this community, coming together to achieve more than by themselves.”

The official club mission is to help children. Lynne shared how back in the 1920s, the club saw a need at Mott Children’s Hospital. The Kiwanis provided a teacher to work at the hospital. This initiative grew into what is today the Child and Family Life Program.

Lynne is a psychotherapist and clinical social worker, and works at the Samaritan Counseling Services. She treats those dealing with depression, anxiety and stress.

Depression may be caused by losing a spouse, or entering into retirement and not having that career purpose. Getting involved in the community is an effective way to fight depression.

Kiwanis is a great opportunity to get out and interact. At the weekly Monday lunch meetings, the members all have good conversation, laughter, hear an informative speaker, and feel part of something larger.

The club affords numerous opportunities for its members to get involved. Of course, there’s working the weekly Thrift Sale, “a department store of donated goods, where people find wonderful treasures at great prices”. There is also the daily Meals on Wheels route, the Christmas Salvation Army donation kettles, and one-day community projects such as building wheel chair ramps.

To listen to the 12-minute talk with Lynne, click the audio link:

To get in touch with the Kiwanis Club, please call 734-665-0450, or access the website aakiwanis.org.

Alan Caldwell and Sheila Doeden co-host Everything Elderly every Saturday morning at 8:30 on 1290 WLBY. In their day jobs, Alan and Sheila co-own and co-manage Senior Helpers, providing in-home care services, primarily to the elderly. Both can be contacted at homecareexcellence@seniorhelpers.com, or at 734-927-3111.