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Updated 8/27/15 2:58pm | Here at Alert1 we love to support active seniors. That’s why we offer you our Kelsi mobile medical alert! Kelsi will be by your side to protect you no matter where you go. Just press the button to be connected to our Command Center. They can send help directly to your location. There are so many different senior activities you can do that get you out and about. Exercise strengthens your muscles and bones, reducing the risk of falls, and it is proven to lift your mood. Staying active is key for seniors to keep happy and healthy.
Need some inspiration? Meet Gladys and Walter. They are active individuals who also use their fitness as a way to spend time with friends and meet new ones. They both get exercise every day, and credit their daily walks for their health. And the best part? They are both 100 year old seniors! If they can do it, so can you. Read on to hear their stories and be inspired to go out and move. (With your mobile medical device by your side of course!)
A Senior is Britain’s Oldest Paperboy
At 6:30am every morning, Walter Sharp picks up bundles of the day’s newspaper and delivers them to everyone in town - no matter the weather. Every morning the town’s residents see Walter walking by accompanied his West Highland terrier named Harry. Walter became a paper boy in 1979, after he retired as a senior. He’s now 100 years old, and he credits his daily early morning walks with keeping him fit and healthy.
Walter lives in Camelon, Falkirk in the UK. He was born in 1914, at the start of World War One. He went on to fight in the Army; he is a World War Two veteran of the D-Day landings in Normandy who saw action in North Africa and Italy. After he came home from the war, he worked as a storeman for an iron foundry until his retirement in 1979. He’s been enjoying delivering papers ever since, and celebrated his 100th birthday last month. Walter is an everyday aging in place hero.
Walter is dedicated to the people on his route. “My neighbors always get their Sunday Posts and have done for years” he says. Sharp’s newsagent, who gives the paperboys their papers every morning, says that “Mr. Sharp is first at the door every morning. He looks years younger and has the stamina of someone half is age.”
Everyone in the neighborhood knows and loves Walter. His son Brian, 67, said “He has received 108 cards so far [for his birthday], a lot of them from people he meets out walking Harry and local shop owners who all know and love him and Harry, who are inseparable.” We’re sure Harry loves the daily walks too!
Walter credits the walking he does as a paperboy with his good health. He says, “If you keep walking, you’ll keep living. I’m up with the larks picking up papers for the neighbors. I certainly don’t feel 100.” Exercise, meeting up with friends and neighbors, and doing good for the community are all excellent ways to have fun and keep seniors healthy. Walter loves being a paperboy. He says, “I just want to be a good neighbor and help others. You are never too old to lend a hand.”
Training For Her First 5k in Her Golden Years
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Gladys Misiewicz of Grand Rapids, Michigan knows the power of exercise. She gets up at 4:30 every morning to take every exercise class available at the Villa Maria Retirement Community. Gladys asked the reporters “Guess how many mornings a week I go? Always.” And most impressively, she and 16 other residents of the community are training for their first walking 5k!
Gladys has a lot of friends at the retirement community, and she always encourages them to join her at the fitness classes. “I say, ‘You know, we have an exercise program available to us. It’s just downstairs. Get off the seats and come down with me.’” She is at the front of the 5k training, and they all have a lot of fun doing fitness together! Gladys credits her fitness and long life to good nutrition and to growing up in the Depression, when they had to walk everywhere. “My life has been filled with exercise and good nourishment,” she said. “I’ve walked all of my life.”
Staying active is the key to senior health
Walter and Gladys are huge inspirations. Just because you’re aging doesn’t mean you have to act old!
Sometimes friends and family get worried when their aging loved ones go out on their own. And they’re right, you never know when you’ll need some extra help. But their concerns don’t need to slow you down! The easiest way to ease their worries? Take the Alert1 Kelsi mobile medical alert with you. With Kelsi by your side, you will always have a safety net of protection. Your loved ones will feel better knowing you are in great hands, and you will be surprised at how much better you feel with help only a button push away. With unlimited range and coverage, Kelsi will protect you no matter where your walks take you!
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