OMC’s Wellness Services

Location: Inside YMCA of Sequim, 610 N. Fifth Ave.

Phone: 360-582-5050

On the web: www.olympicmedical.org

One year in, and Olympic Medical Center’s pilot program continues to help Sequim residents with balance, exercise and confidence.

Wellness Services in the YMCA of Sequim opened in Sept. 2017 after much planning and leaders for the program say offerings will expand in 2019.

“It’s a way to engage the community and be preventative,” Wellness Services Program coordinator Raymond Martinez said.

“We want to be proactive rather than reactive. OMC is good at being reactive and taking care of people.

“Now, being here, Wellness Services is about helping people stay well. Let’s address things before they happen.”

The first class offering, Tai Ji Quan, continues to help people reduce their risk of falling while improving balance, Martinez said. Twice a week, for 12 weeks, participants gather to learn and practice eight forms of Tai Ji Quan.

Helen Butler of Sequim is nearing the end of her second 12-week session.

“If it keeps me from falling,” Butler said, she will keep doing it. Since 2011, Butler said she’s fallen six times, resulting in two broken hips.

Her physical therapist, Peggy Scheideler, teaches the class and says the technique helps people like Butler who live in senior apartments. Scheideler said a study by multiple agencies showed Tai Ji Quan helped reduce falls by 55 percent in community-dwelling older adults, and 67 percent in Parkinson’s disease.

“It’s really for anybody who needs help in improving their balance,” Martinez said. “That can happen to anybody based on what they’ve been dealt.”

Community asset

Leonard Anderson, manager of OMC’s Heart Center, oversees Wellness Services and said the push for it to start came after the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center (SARC), shut down, and OMC expressed interest in supporting the YMCA by leasing space.

“This is a critical medical facility and it was closed; … it hurt the community as a whole,” Anderson said. “That’s why OMC got involved … a community space wellness program is becoming more and more of our healthcare. We’re trying to prevent and keep people out of the hospital.”

Wellness Service’s space was completely renovated by OMC, Martinez said, and it adapts to whatever programs are offered.

Some of the programs include Phase III Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Maintenance, and Transitional Gym Programs to help clinical and physical therapy patients transition to community-based exercise programs.

Anderson said whatever the ailment, treatment programs may only last 4-6 weeks in the hospital depending on insurance.

“This is a way for someone to continue their work in a relatively low cost setting,” he said.

Some people receive referrals through their physicians, Martinez said, but people can simply call and ask about programs to see what may work for them.

Cost is all out of pocket and not covered by insurance. Programs range from $32-$66 per month with varying amounts for other programs and assessments.

Participants are offered discounts to the YMCA for one-year memberships and access to its facilities while in the program, too.

Transition

Anderson said their goal is for people to transition from OMC to other independent exercise routines on their own.

“They may feel comfortable and join the Y, or any of the other facilities in town, but they’ve developed that comfort. It’s very hard when you’re 70 years old, and you’ve had a heart attack and you’ve never worked out in a gym in your whole life to walk into a YMCA.”

“We want to translate this to life outside of the gym — shopping on their own, doing their own yard work,” Martinez said.

In programs, Martinez said programming caters to everyone’s individual needs with “an exercise routine that is efficient but also safe.”

“I enjoy helping this population and showing them they don’t have to be limited,” Martinez said. “They can be a community member again. They don’t have to be limited by their disease. I give them the tools and skills they need so they can do what they enjoy doing.”

Growth

Last year, 279 people visited Wellness Services 1,956 times.

New programs such as Smoking Cessation and Diabetes Prevention programs will be introduced in 2019 along with more staffing, leaders say.

“The hospital’s goal here is not money but to provide a service to the community,” Anderson said.

He said OMC leaders continue to discuss options to expand services to the Port Angeles YMCA, too.

“The concept is to eventually grow this larger,” Anderson said.

In Sequim, Kurt Turner, executive director of the YMCA of Sequim, said they are excited about the continued partnership.

“Raymond Martinez and his OMC staff bring the highest level of clinical knowledge and professionalism into our YMCA,” he said.

“OMC offers top-notch programs focusing on chronic disease management and prevention.”

For more information on programs, or to register, call 360-582-5050, or visit the YMCA of Sequim at 610 N. Fifth Ave.

Raymond Martinez, Wellness Services program coordinator, on left, and Leonard Anderson, Olympic Medical Center’s Heart Center manager, say Sequim’s Wellness Services through OMC will expand its offerings in 2019 including a Diabetes Prevention Program. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash

Tai Ji Quan continues at the YMCA through Olympic Medical Center’s Wellness Services program. Here, participants, from left, Helen Butler, Peggy Scheideler, physical therapist, Sandy Sullivan, Sarah Thomas, Peggy Dawson, and Richard Thomas move together in the 23rd week of a 24 week class to help prevent falls. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash