The Aging Office is putting together a \u201cfitness challenge\u201d for the island\u2019s elderly as part of Mes Man\u2019Amko, the Older Americans Month celebration in May.<\/p>\n
Patterned after the reality show in the U.S. called Biggest Loser, the fitness challenge seeks to encourage the man\u2019amko to engage in physical activities such as sports and exercise in keeping with the theme of this year\u2019s celebration, \u201cNever Too Old to Play.\u201d<\/p>\n
The challenge will have man\u2019amko vying for the healthiest blood sugar and blood pressure levels as well as a healthy and normal body weight throughout the monthlong event.<\/p>\n
Program coordinator Walter Manglona said yesterday that they plan to add more programs to the regular physical activities at the center.<\/p>\n
Just last week, Manglona said the Saipan Seniors Advisory Council bought a new treadmill that will be among the equipment that will be used for the fitness challenge.<\/p>\n
The new treadmill replaced two old ones previously donated by the Joeten company that have been out of order for a number of years.<\/p>\n
Manglona said the man\u2019amko who will win the challenge will receive prizes that will be solicited by the council from various business establishments and organizations on island.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will encourage the man\u2019amko to participate in the activities we will provide because it\u2019s beneficial to their health,\u201d Manglona told Saipan Tribune. \u201cBut before we do so, we\u2019ll have a physician come in and check if they are fit to do so to ensure their safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manglona said doctors who check on the man\u2019amko have constantly advised them that \u201cstaying active is the way to go\u201d to regulate their blood pressure and blood sugar levels and even fight Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why for the Mes Man\u2019amko, we\u2019re trying to devise different friendly competitions that help the seniors get exercise, have them get up and do what they used to do because they\u2019re still strong and they\u2019re still part of the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Among these competitions are the man\u2019amko relay and ground golf tournament. \u201cWe want this year\u2019s celebration to be huge and incorporate as much activities as we can,\u201d added Manglona.<\/p>\n
Manglona said the council will be focusing for the whole month of April on the preparations for the monthlong celebration, which will kick off with a proclamation signing tentatively set on April 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Aging Office is putting together a \u201cfitness challenge\u201d for the island\u2019s elderly as part of Mes Man\u2019Amko, the Older Americans Month celebration in May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}