Be The Change at Wellmore of Daniel Island

What is your position at Wellmore of Daniel Island?

I am the Wellness Director.

How long have you been at Wellmore of Daniel Island?

I have been at Wellmore of Daniel Island for one year.

What excites you the most about this position and this company?

I am most excited that one of our company’s core values is “People First, Always.” What a wonderful opportunity to work for a company that exists to serve seniors and our employees at the highest level.

What is your favorite thing about working for Senior Living Communities?

My favorite thing is that we have sister properties to connect with, share ideas, and gain wisdom from. It’s wonderful having other Social / Wellness Directors and our Home Office team to encourage and inspire us forward.

Describe a time that a Member had a positive impact on your day?

Every day! Honestly, seeing our Members work hard and push themselves towards their goals is so rewarding and leaves a daily impact. Their daily dose of encouragement, compliments, and love can make any situation better.

How have you grown professionally and personally since joining the team?

Yes, 100%! This position challenges me every day to be better.

What about your position allows you to pursue what makes you feel the most passionate in life?

I am most passionate about serving others throughout their life and helping them recognize their worth and potential! This position allows me to do that every day as I help our Members achieve their goals and stay strong holistically.

When it comes to your programming, what is the motivation behind specific classes that you do with your Members?

My motivation for programming is assessing our Member’s wellness needs, wants and desires for exercise. Then, we can best design a program that is personable but fun to keep them moving and healthy! For some, it might be one-on-one training with our wellness team in the gym, group exercise, or trivia/brain puzzles. No matter the form of wellness, we like to incorporate balance, stability, cognitive exercises, and music. We work closely with our on-site rehab therapy team (Genesis) to ensure our programs are best meeting our Members’ health and wellness needs.

Your community has a monthly social event called a Signature Experience, how does wellness play a role in these themed days?

Wellness is not just limited to physical fitness, but rather social, emotional, mental, spiritual, and environmental well-being. Therefore, our Wellness team works closely with our social and dining teams to create a fun-filled, themed experience for our Members that incorporates all aspects of wellness!

Wellness programming has won three Argentum Best of the Best Awards over the last few years. What was that feeling like and how does it motivate you moving forward?

I feel honored to be a part of an award-winning wellness program! It challenges me to make sure our program is functioning at its highest level each day, and we are always looking for ways to continue growing. I am motivated to continue our amazing program and push it towards more awards in the future.

Tell us about WAVES, C.L.I.M.B, or Purpose-Based Wellness. How does it benefit the Members, what does the program look like, and how did it come to be?

At Wellmore of Daniel Island, we currently offer WAVES sessions amongst many other group exercise classes. All are purpose-based wellness to make sure we are meeting our Member’s needs in correlation to their specific point in life. We provide each Member with 1:1 planning sessions to get a routine schedule in motion. Also, we work with our Genesis therapy team to make sure our Members that are coming off therapy continue to have a wellness program in place. Our purpose-based program allows us to uniquely design classes that are specific to the Members current physical state, that will best meet their needs, and will be the most enjoyable for them.

What makes Wellmore of Daniel Island’s Wellness programming stand out compared to others?

Having a wellness department is a wonderful amenity that many senior living communities in the area do not offer. It allows for personalized programming, offering a wide variety of wellness activities for the Member to choose from. Our heated, salt-water pool allows Members the opportunity to exercise with low impact on the joints and gives total-body relaxation. Our group exercise classes vary in level from seated to standing. Also, we have wonderful weather throughout the year that allows us to conduct our programming outside with walks, bike riding, beach trips, and more! Our wellness team is constantly looking for new, and creative ways to serve our Members.

Talk about the impact your wellness program has had on the Members at your community, big wins, maintaining independence, and more.

Our wellness programs have had a major impact on our Members, and we plan to continue doing so! Many of our members have personal testimonies of getting stronger, walking longer distances, losing weight, and much more. In addition, our Members feel empowered to maintain independence in their everyday life and holistically feel well. A few example comments are listed below:

• “I can walk to the dining room on my own now!”
• “I have not felt this good about myself in years”
• “Wow! Working out actually makes me feel really good after.”
• “My balance has really improved.”
• “I never thought I would walk again!”

Personal question: What is your favorite personal fitness class, routine, etc.?

My favorite thing to do to keep up with my personal fitness is maintaining a variety in my workouts (i.e. yoga, bike riding, strength training, beach walks, etc.) That way I am not doing the same thing every day and catering to different aspects of my well-being!