ACTIVE Cumbria has teamed up with the award-winning social enterprise Oomph!, which specialises in exercise therapy for older people, the programme Forever Active aims to get more elderly people fit.
Nursing homes and residential homes across the Furness peninsula sent their staff and volunteers to train in the Oomph! course when it came to Barrow. Cora Brennan, 23, who works for the Risedale at Lonsdale care home in Albert Street in Barrow, attended the training session.
Miss Brennan said: "I absolutely love my job and I was so happy to get the chance to teach these Oomph! sessions at our care home.
"Since I got my Oomph! qualification I told all of the ladies and gents here about it and we held a little practice session last week before the proper classes started. Myself and the other girls have special blue T-shirts to wear for classes and now everyone here knows that when they see me in my blue top they have something fun to look forward to.
"Everyone has been really excited about the classes, the props such as the pom-poms, glittery scarves and balloons have gone down especially well.
"It's so important for the people in the care home to have things to look forward to and to have a chance to express themselves with somebody they feel comfortable with and that they can trust. They get the chance to socialise in these classes and make some nice memories too."
Miss Brennan has now arranged that the classes will take place three times each week and she will take the classes with her colleagues Samantha Wilson and Zaina Cargan.
The training session for the new Oomph! teachers was held at Barrow AFC and taught by personal trainer Scott Occomore, 23, from London.
He said: "I enjoy personal training but I find this job much more rewarding as I know it is actually going to help people and bring a little more happiness in to people's lives.
"We don't refer to the sessions as workouts, we call them 'song and dance parties' as it sounds more fun. We use music that older people will enjoy like Elvis and Chuck Berry. We have lots of fun props and I encourage staff to do themed sessions like a beach theme or Valentine's or Christmas.
"The exercises in the sessions can all be done from a chair but we have seen them make a real difference to improving mobility, even with patients who have suffered strokes. Endorphins are also the best thing for mental stimulation and triggering happiness and the old songs sometimes stimulate nice memories for any older people who are perhaps suffering with dementia."
At the first official Oomph! session at Albert Street, there was a good turn out with more than 20 residents attending. Miss Brennan and her colleagues taught routines to songs like Tiger Feet and Johnny B. Goode, making fun and easy movements up and encouraging residents to put forward their own suggestions.
The most enjoyable moves for the residents looked to be "riding the bike" (a pedalling movement made with the arms) and "the cowboy" (a lassoing movement performed with a sparkly scarf and an obligatory 'yee-haw'). All residents really enjoyed themselves and there was a sense of fun and high spirits at the care home.
Miss Brennan said: "I am so glad I attended the course. I feel like the first session has been a real hit and everybody is looking forward to continuing and developing new routines. We do a warm up and a cool down with a huge balloon that we all bat around and it's just been a great way for the residents to relax.
"I always look forward to coming in to work and seeing the residents, but now we have these sessions we can spend more time together laughing and being together as a group too."
Miss Brennan is a singer herself and covers contemporary pop songs for local concerts. However, once a month she dresses up as Vera Lynn or Audrey Hepburn and performs songs from the 1950s for all of the residents at the Albert Street care home. She said: "It's just a bit of a treat for the residents, they really look forward to it and I enjoy doing anything I can to make them happy. They sing along with the old songs and I try to download new backing tracks each month so it's something different."