UCSF s Institute for Health and Aging recently received a three-year grant from The California Endowment to help create, implement, and evaluate a physical activity program for men and women over the age of 50. The program, called the Healthy Aging in Diverse Community Settings project, targets ethnically diverse, low-income seniors at three sites in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. UCSF, in partnership with three community-based organizations, hopes to increase awareness about the benefits of physical activity while motivating and helping older adults to create exercise regimens for themselves. 65 and older are inactive, with Latinos and African-Americans having the highest rates of a sedentary lifestyle, according to 1995 data from the California Behavioral Risk Factor Survey. Physical activity helps prevent and control various conditions as people age, like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and osteoporosis, said Stewart.
Exercise also improves many other aspects of health and well-being.
Three community agencies will collaborate with staff from UCSF and Stanford University to adapt the program to be culturally appropriate and appealing to their community members. Organizers hope to enroll 80 to 100 seniors per year at each site for this program, reaching a total of 240 to 300 seniors over the grant period, said Stewart. Copyright 1999 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Last Updated .