Sue Mullins and Karen Bennett lunged back and forth, stepped side to side, rotated their hips, bounced up and down and pulled their arms up and back. Then they did squats, bridges (lying down and raising their hips), knee raises, modified push-ups and modified planks. But, as they did these and other exercises under the direction of Stephanie Kates, all three women had a small exercise ball between their legs just above the knees. A band wrapped around the ball also was wrapped around the outside of the women’s legs.

Exercise programs for people with disabilities are nothing new.
But a new, medically supervised pilot program targets a group of people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. After one year, program partners — the McLean County Health Department, Advocate BroMenn Health & Fitness Center and Marcfirst — will analyze each participant’s health and fitness data to determine whether to continue the program and perhaps expand it.

Forty-one McLean County residents with developmental disabilities have an opportunity to improve their health because of an innovative partnership of the McLean County Health Department, Advocate BroMenn Health and Fitness Center and Marcfirst.

Rock Steady Boxing began a month ago at the Advocate BroMenn fitness center in the Center for Integrated Wellness and already averages seven participants each class, said Smeltzer, a veteran Bloomington-Normal exercise physiologist who is fitness center manager and a certified Rock Steady Boxing instructor.

According to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, as many as one million Americans live with Parkinson’s disease. Approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease each year, and this number does not reflect the thousands of cases that go undetected. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive, degenerative neurological disease that, unfortunately, has no cure.

The Center for Integrated Wellness in Bloomington, Illinois, celebrated its opening on August 27.

A comprehensive approach to health and wellness is starting under 106,000 square feet on Bloomington’s east side.

In a $35 million facility that would bring a medically based fitness center, orthopedics and sports performance under one roof, Colleen Kannaday sees the future.