Carried out in Istanbul Maltepe Nursing Home affiliated to the Ministry of Family and Social Services and Istanbul Prof. Dr. Fahrettin Kerim-Nilüfer Gökay Nursing Home within the scope of the Cooperation in Education Implementation Protocol signed between Üsküdar Municipality and Istanbul Medeniyet University, the project “Age Healthy with Green Exercise” was completed.
The project coordinated by Assoc.Prof.Dr. Berna DİNÇER HEKİM, Deputy Dean of Istanbul Medeniyet University Faculty of Health Sciences, and Dr. Elif YILDIRIM AYAZ, an internal medicine specialist at Sultan Abdulhamid Han Training and Research Hospital, aimed to contribute to the goal of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages. For this purpose, physicians, physiotherapists, nurses, and students collaborated with nursing home staff to deliver physical activity training and outdoor exercises to 20 individuals over the age of 65 for 12 weeks.
The project aimed to perform screening for hypertension and abdominal obesity for individuals aged 65 and older, perform outdoor exercises (green exercise) for 12 weeks, reduce non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, atherosclerosis, which increase in prevalence with age, prevent health risks and cognitive and functional loss, provide consultancy and training on the prevention of health problems and the development of healthy living skills for the elderly, and thus contribute to public health.
Within the scope of COVID-19 measures, outdoor exercise programs were implemented in the nursing home garden and Maltepe beach, taking advantage of the potential synergetic effects of nature on health together with exercise. With the presence of Mayor of Üsküdar Mr. Hilmi TÜRKMEN, Dean of IMU Faculty of Medicine Prof.Dr. Sadrettin PENÇE, Dean of IMU Faculty of Health Sciences Prof.Dr. Aygül YANIK, elderly individuals and the project team came together in various social programs. At the end of twelve weeks, in the closing program held on Üsküdar Municipality Valide Sultan Ship, awards were given to the elderly individuals who participated in the program.
