Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

100-year-old care home resident feels more ‘energetic’ after starting work-out regime last year

Betty Aitken, 100, has been working out to stay healthy.
Betty Aitken, 100, has been working out to stay healthy.

Not content to sit on her laurels all day, one Aberdeenshire centenarian has been reaping the benefits of a new healthy initiative being rolled out across the country – by lifting weights and getting active.

Betty Aitken, who celebrated her 100th birthday in February this year, has been taking part in a weekly regime of workouts with a personal trainer who visits her at Allachburn Care Home in Aboyne as part of an exercise group.

The £1million project Care About Physical Activity (CAPA) is funded by the Scottish Government and is led by the Care Inspectorate to help maintain people in their own home environment.

The exercise programme aims to boost physical activity for older people and gives them opportunities to move more in order to prevent ill health and admission to hospital.

Working on the advice that experts say moving more often is a really important way for older people to stay healthy and well, personal trainer Danielle Dutton is in charge of putting Mrs Aitken through her paces.

“I’ve been visiting the home to work with the residents and have seen a huge improvement in Betty,” said Mrs Dutton.

“Betty has significantly improved strength and balance through working with dumb bells and therabands.

“She can now walk further, feels steadier, has reduced her falls and also reports a marked improvement in her emotional and mental wellbeing.”

Mrs Dutton added: “I’ve been working with Betty for about a year now. As well as increased flexibility, Betty’s personal care has also improved.

“She is now able to do things for herself which she wasn’t able to do before.  She can get into bed much more easily and can now get in and out of the car.  Betty loves feeling more independent.  She can even reach her hands around her back.

“It is a privilege to be working with Betty and to see the progress she has made. I am very happy and find it very rewarding, it gives me job satisfaction knowing I am improving her way of life and giving her more independence.”

The young-at-heart Mrs Aitken enjoys working with her personal trainer and looks forward to her visits. She said: “I enjoy my exercise, I feel more relaxed and energetic and it means I can walk better. I can stand up better from my chair than previously as I struggled. It has loosened my limbs.”

The Care Inspectorate is encouraging all care services to get involved with promoting physical activity for older people.

CAPA Improvement Adviser for Aberdeenshire, Paula Bisset, said: “It’s brilliant to hear about the work happening at Allachburn and in particular, Betty’s story.  CAPA is all about working with people experiencing care to help them to make small improvements that can have a big impact on their quality of life, health and wellbeing. It just goes to show that moving meaningfully and making improvements can happen at any age.”

For more information, visit www.capa.scot