By Kristen Bailey
We often think of active and engaged seniors as always on the go and exercising most days. And while pursuing physical fitness is extremely important and known to improve overall health, living a vital, energetic life when older goes far beyond just physical exercise. The Life Enrichment team at San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living (SFCJL), along with its partner Exos, a sought-after, nationwide leader in sports science, performance, and holistic health, is pioneering what it means to develop and support a comprehensive activity program rooted in Jewish values for the assisted living and memory care residents at Frank Residences.
Rob Sarison, Assistant Executive Director of Frank Residences, sat down recently to share the goals of both SFCJL and Exos in ensuring the physical and emotional health and wellness of each resident.
“We started our work with Exos in 2019 right before Covid hit,” said Rob. “Exos has fitness contracts with all sorts of entities, including the San Francisco Jewish Community Center, lots of universities, and various workplaces and corporations. Assisted living was kind of a new thing for Exos, but their interests aligned with our mutual objectives and values. How do we optimize emotional well-being and physical health for older adults? What are the programs that would keep older adults healthier longer? What might be the full range of physical, emotional, and creative endeavors that would ensure a rich life for our residents? And how do we intertwine Jewish life and values in everything we do, even for our non-Jewish residents?”
While wellness prevention activities like yoga, massage therapy, acupressure, personalized gym training, and aquatic workouts take a front seat due to the expertise that Exos brings to SFCJL, says Rob, creative arts therapy programming is a growing part of every resident’s experience at Frank. Enrichment Director Geoffrey Washburn, an Exos partner employee, has past experience in theater and arts administration and has helped implement much of the growing arts therapy programming. The visual arts studio, theater troupe, creative writing workshops with local organization LitQuake, and concert offerings give residents a multitude of opportunities to feed their mind, soul, and body.
“Our work with Exos differentiates us as a thought leader, and as a place where we’re developing best practices for how to keep older adults engaged.”
Rob Sarison, Assistant Executive Director of Frank Residences
According to Rob, SFCJL Rabbi Debora Kohn and the life enrichment teams from both Frank Residences and the Jewish Home & Rehab Center and Exos work collaboratively to plan for various rituals and celebrations for Jewish holidays and events, including weekly Shabbat which is regularly attended by non-Jewish residents. “Jewish life and the values of compassion, community, and excellence are woven into everything we do,” says Rob. “When residents move in here, they know that it’s a Jewish nonprofit organization. Some may not have any faith or come from a very different faith background. But we’ve seen over and over again where they want to participate in the spiritual aspects of the community, because that’s what neighbors do for each other.”
“EXOS has been a really great organization for us to partner with in developing our enrichment programming,” says Rob. “Our work with Exos differentiates us as a thought leader, and as a place where we’re developing best practices for how to keep older adults engaged. They bring the skills and knowledge to work with our residents and understand what our older adults seek to lead full and complete lives.”