Between ukulele group and watercoloring, visitors to the Hollywood Senior Center can slip into a morning tai chi class.
For those who want to go gleaning instead, that’s OK. They can catch the afternoon tai chi session. After all, the classes are offered seven times a week at the northeast Portland center.
“Tai Chi, Moving for Better Balance” is part of a broader movement to help seniors improve their balance and strength. Multnomah County’s Aging, Disability and Veterans Services Division partners with nonprofits including the Urban League, NAYA, Asian Health & Service Center and Bridge Meadows to offer the classes.
Falls are the leading cause of injury in seniors, landing 5,800 Oregonians age 65 or older in the hospital in 2013. And the chances of falling grow exponentially once adults reach 85.
That’s why Mary Lasswell started taking the tai chi classes last year, she told the Multnomah Board of County Commissions Thursday, as the board proclaimed September Falls Prevention Awareness Month and National Senior Center Month in the county.
By the time she hit 80, Lasswell said, she couldn’t walk by herself.
“Before tai chi if I walked, I held on to someone’s elbow, and then I didn’t walk very far,” she said. “The balance training has made me independent. I walk everywhere now.”
She said she and her friends fear little more than a bad tumble. So she gathered her friends together at Bridge Meadows and encouraged them to join her for the exercise class. Betty Jo McCoy, who shares a home with Lasswell, said she decided to go after multiple visits to her doctor.
“I have noticed that my doctors are morbidly interested in how often I fall, so I thought tai chi sounded like a good thing,” she said.
Yvonne Jordan, who heard about the class in her church bulletin, had a history of falls.
“One second I’d be walking and then I’d take a full-body plant,” she said. “The classes aren’t too difficult, so anyone can join. And you find friends in the whole thing.”
Virlea Hall is new to the class, but she says she noticed a difference immediately.
“It’s wonderful for your balance, but it’s also good for your mind,” she told commissioners. “When you get older, sometimes you don’t love your body like you should. This is helping me tune into my body and things about things that are good for me.”
