Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 17, 1994 TAG: 9403010170
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: NEIGHBORS EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RENEE SHAFER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``Quietness kills us,'' warns Dorothy Chrisman, who originated the exercise program in Berea College in Berea, Ky. ``We're moving machines. We're not suppose to be idle or else we rust.''
Exercise instructor Jean Norkus, 62, has taught the class since 1991. Four years ago she was in a car accident. There were no broken bones, but her body was in shock. Despite therapy, the discomfort in her neck and back continued. She joined Body Recall when she moved to Roanoke soon afterward.
``After a couple weeks my neck started to loosen up, and I could drive again,'' she said. ``My back became more pliable - it brought me back to normal.''
Body Recall is geared toward the elderly and people with rehabilitative needs. The goal is to keep muscles active and make movement easier. The exercises are slow, deliberate movements aimed at developing balance, flexibility, equilibrium and confidence. They are simple exercises that won't raise the heart rate or leave you breathless.
``It's retooling your body - recalling the flexibility and agility you once had,'' Norkus says. ``It reminds the body of movements it had forgotten and awakens it.''
Etta Mae Lancaster, a retired nurse who read about the program and attended a two-week instructors' course in Berea, brought the program to Roanoke in 1990.
Lancaster's students call her efforts a ``gift to the Roanoke Valley''. And by way of thanks, 15 members of her class have designed a plaque that will be placed in Ogden Center.
``The minute she saw it, she knew it was something she wanted to do,'' says Cindy Wells, a longtime friend of Lancaster. ``She felt it was a way to keep senior citizens active. She was very vivacious and she wanted to keep the people around her active because they were her peers and her friends.''
``Etta Mae had a willing mind and a thirst to reach out and help people,'' remembers Chrisman. ``Body Recall gave her the laboratory to do it in.''
After taking the course under Chrisman, Lancaster set up classes at Ogden Center and made plans to start a class at Friendship Manor, the retirement center where she had worked.
``It was hard getting it started, but she was real enthusiastic,'' said her husband, Warren Lancaster. ``She got old broomsticks people had thrown out and used them in her class to exercise with. She made ropes and contraptions. She really enjoyed that class.''
In 1991 doctors discovered a lump in Lancaster's breast. The lump was removed, and a week later she was back leading her class. Later, the cancer spread to her arm and liver.
In September 1992, Lancaster started chemotherapy and had to give up her Body Recall class. She died on Feb. 19, 1993, a day before her 62nd birthday.
``She was a real fighter,'' says Wells.
``If anything, her death inspired us,'' says Norkus.
Betty Nevin, 43, a Body Recall instructor at the Windsor Hills United Methodist Church, suffers from heel spurs; scoliosis, curvature of the spine; and carpal tunnel syndrome, a swelling of the nerves in the wrist. ``The exercises have helped to strengthen my back and ease the discomfort,'' Nevin says. ``And, so far, I've been able to hold off surgery on my hand.''
Melva Dowdy, 82, believes she has arthritis in her knees. Every morning before she gets out of bed, she does exercises learned in class to loosen the joints. ``Right away you feel better because you're moving. It stimulates you,'' says Dowdy. ``There is also a wonderful spirit in the group mentality that leaves you feeling good.''
``I felt great after I started doing this. I felt exhilarated,'' says Bernie Benjamin, 73, a four-year veteran of the program. ``And I can tell when I haven't done it for a while.''
Benjamin, who has been out of class because of leg surgery, said the deep breathing exercises also help her asthma.
``People don't realize what they are missing when they don't exercise,'' says Benjamin. ``They're probably afraid to get into it because they think it's aerobics.''
When Chrisman started the program 15 years ago she worried about the same thing and found herself having to rethink the goals of exercise. ``We said it had to hurt, and they didn't want to hurt anymore. We said it had to be fast to be productive. They didn't want to go for the burn.''
``I knew we were on the right track when people started telling me they were sleeping better, their tension was gone, their neck wasn't so sore, they could go up stairs without huffing. These are the signs that matter to us,'' Chrisman says.
To further meet the needs of the students, the program includes lessons on falls and recovery. The exercises prepare the body for the trauma of the fall, says Norkus, and the class teaches them how to get up.
`I have a student who is 86,'' Chrisman says. ``One day he was picking apples and he fell off his ladder. He fell right on his back, but because he knows how to fall and his body is so wonderfully elastic, he was able to roll right over and get up. He didn't even bother to tell his wife what happened,'' she says, laughing.
Lancaster's students still meet in Ogden Center, where Norkus now leads the class. They come for the exercise as well for companionship.
For information on Body Recall, call Ogden Senior Center, (703 772-7505, or the Windsor Hills United Methodist Church at (703) 774-4730.}
by CNB