This year, the focus at the Menlo Park Senior Center is promoting healthy habits by helping seniors stay mentally and physically active, eat good food, and participate in informational workshops and classes. In collaboration with Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Sequoia Hospital, the Menlo Park Senior Center was able to bring a valuable class called “A Matter of Balance” to the aging population at the Center. The class is taught with the help of two coaches for eight weeks in a support group format. The topics included Exercise & Fall Prevention, Thoughts and Concerns about Falling, Recognizing Fall Hazards at Home, and more. This class is in English, however, with the help of one of our seniors who was just recently trained as a volunteer coach, we will soon also be offering it in Spanish. The program has a maximum of 10 students in each class, some of whom have had recent falls, and some who are learning preventative measures.

To further promote physical activity, in addition to regular exercise classes, the Senior Center also offers two Folkloric Dance classes and a Soul Line Dance class. It’s clear the seniors we serve enjoy dancing, so with the help of a volunteer DJ, our first “Discothèqua!” event was introduced on September 17th. From Village People’s YMCA, to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and everything in between, sprinkled with Latin music, the DJ had 47 seniors moving and shaking in the ballroom after lunch! “Discothèqua!” will be held on the 3rd Wednesday of the month throughout the fall.