Hosting a wellness day: promoting health in the old-old

The purpose of health promotion and disease prevention is to increase the number of years of life and ensure better quality of remaining life. Those in the oldest age group (> or = 90 years) are generally less likely to monitor their cholesterol intake, exercise, have their stools checked for occult blood, or undergo a mammogram, Papanicolaou test, or prostate or skin evaluation as recommended. The most common reasons given for not engaging in these activities are advanced age, absence of direction by primary health care providers, and lack of interest in following up abnormal findings. To promote primary and secondary disease prevention and health promotion, a Wellness Day was hosted in a continuing-care retirement community by the in-house geriatric nurse practitioner and a group of nurse practitioner students. The program offered cancer screening, cardiovascular health assessments, and exercise prescreening and education, as well as screening for diabetes and risk for osteoporosis. An individualized approach to health promotion was used, reviewing with each resident the pros and cons of participating in each of these behaviors.