TOP STORY
NY Times Flub Floods
NCCAP
Reporting
error proves that ‘No News is Bad
News’
 by Kathy
Hughes
NCCAP Special Projects Trustee
In
February, the New York Times ran an
article concerning physical fitness and
the elderly and how physical fitness
would be the up and coming
“thing” for the seniors.
“Baby Boomers,” according to
the piece, would need to have some
trained professionals to offer exercise
programs to meet their needs and
interests. The article, which was also
posted on the Times’ Web site,
stated that there were a few places to
receive this type of training, and that
there was even a national certification
in the physical fitness
training—through NCCAP.
As a
result of the piece, the NCCAP office was
flooded with phone calls, the NCCAP Web
site experienced the most traffic it has
seen since its launch, and NCCAP Board
members received phone calls concerning
certification for physical fitness
trainers for the elderly.
The NCCAP
Board sent a letter to the New York Times
thanking them for mentioning us and
explaining that we actually certified
activity professionals who work in long
term care and not physical fitness
instructors. While have not as yet
received any return response, we have
received interesting e-mail from
physically fit octogenarians who would
love to take the 90-Hour courses to
become fitness trainers in nursing homes,
many still run, jog, work out or walk
five miles a day!
Many
people, it seems, are interested in
becoming certified in the field of
physical fitness for the elderly. NCCAP
received approximately forty e-mails
concerning this and we answered every
single one of them.
Since the
Times escapade, we also have seen an
increase in requests for certification
from activity professionals. While we
cannot attribute that directly to the
article, we do know there are many
physically fit seniors looking for a new
career. If you find one, consider hiring
him or her as the exercise specialist for
your facility.
If the old
adage is true, then the exposure NCCAP
received was a wonderful opportunity to
educate the public concerning certified
activity professionals. If the volume of
e-mail received from seniors and others
interested in physical fitness is an
indication of the amount of seniors on
the Internet interested in keeping fit,
then activity professionals should start
providing both opportunities to their
residents. NN
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