Is there such a thing as a runner's high? Why does a gym buddy make or break a fitness goal? What can't doctors learn from a textbook? All this and more as we discuss how Ohio State medical students, the YMCA of Central Ohio, and Boundless came together to design a fitness program specifically for people with I/DD. This week's guests include Ka Ren Steele (Boundless), Dr. Mark Troyer (The Ohio State University College of Medicine), and Janet Torres (Eldon and Elsie Ward YMCA).
Is there such a thing as a runner's high? Why does a gym buddy make or break a fitness goal? What can't doctors learn from a textbook? All this and more as we discuss how Ohio State medical students, the YMCA of Central Ohio, and Boundless came together to design a fitness program specifically for people with I/DD. This week's guests include Ka Ren Steele (Boundless), Dr. Mark Troyer (The Ohio State University College of Medicine), and Janet Torres (Eldon and Elsie Ward YMCA).
Welcome everyone to Well-Being podcast brought to you by boundless. Boundless is a nonprofit that provides residential support, primary health care, autism services, day programs, counseling and a whole lot more to children and adults. Our mission is to build a world that realizes the boundless potential of all people. I'm your host, Scott light, and folks, you are going to leave this episode motivated and really energized. Ka Ren Steele is a recreation therapist here and her program is called Get Fit With Ka Ren. Alright, Ka Ren, what is your elevator speech for your program,
Ka Ren Steele:Create an environment where the individuals could learn, experience and grow. I wanted them to be able to understand and take care of themselves and their health. By using weekly meetings. I wanted them to experience different forms of exercise at the various YMCAs and generally have fun and hopefully create lasting bonds with their fellow classmates.
Scott Light:Well, we're gonna have fun on this episode because you have a great team of supporters both in-house at boundless and throughout the community for this program, and we've got a couple of folks here, who I want to introduce as well. Dr. Mark Troyer is an assistant professor of internal medicine at OSU Wexner Medical Center, and course director of Community Health Education at OSU is College of Medicine. And Janet Torres is a personal trainer and manager at the Eldon and Elsie Ward YMCA. Welcome to all of you today.
Mark Troyer:Thanks for having us.
Scott Light:This is truly when an idea really creates an ecosystem because the YMCA is our our partners here for those workout locations. As you mentioned that Ka Ren Janet, can you tell us more about that about that partnership between boundless and the YMCA?
Janet Torres:we have provide a program for them such as whether it's swimming or on the floor fitness for activities that are accessible to their needs and made for that.
Scott Light:That's great. And Ka Ren pick up on that a little bit about about the YMCA partnership here.
Ka Ren Steele:Well, it was a really strange kind of thing that happened. As all the things I do. I called the hilltop YMCA, and spoke with Theresa Whittingham. I hope I said her last name correctly. And she was so receptive to what I wanted to do. And I didn't even have a full plan. I just said, you know, I want to kind of have a space to have meetings. I'd like to be able to have them introduced to an activity. And she was like, oh, yeah, we would love to do that. And it just kind of snowballed from there. And next thing I knew we were calling the Reynoldsburg. YMCA. We also involved the Elsie or Eldon and Elsie ward. We went to hilltop there's one other one. I'm so sorry. And it's losing my mind.
Scott Light:It'll come to you know, come to me.
Ka Ren Steele:I know
Scott Light:It may come to you like 10 o'clock tonight when you're when you're brushing your teeth.
Ka Ren Steele:But I just wanted to make sure that the individuals could find a YMCA in their area because, you know, they it's supported living folks live all over commute Columbus. And so I wanted them to experience the various YMCAs and be comfortable with going in and exercising, get going to the cardio, or going to the weight room, or swimming, or whatever it was
Scott Light:Dr. Troyer let me come to you because not only your you and your team involved, but you have medical students from the community health education program, who volunteer so tell us more about what those students are doing. And then overall your participation here.
Mark Troyer:Thanks again for having me. The College of Medicine at OSU has a really special community health education course, that pairs our medical students with community agencies across Central Ohio. And so we were able to form a partnership with Ka Ren and Boundless that really has a special opportunity both for our medical students and for the people that they serve. We pair about six to 10 medical students as a group with an agency and we work through a service learning framework. That's a fancy way of saying that we include service, a community service as a way for educating our medical students, but also as a way for elevating the community members that they're serving. So we use that framework so that the medical students are listening the to the community stakeholders to the clients that Boundless serves to Ka Ren and the resources that she has to Janet and the resources that the YMCA brings, and then puts those together into a meaningful education program. So that the client Can can improve their physical activity, improve their diet, and other things like that. Through this partnership.
Scott Light:Let me pick up on that in this sense, I understand that students not only volunteer, they do workshops, they do presentations, and then some even go to individuals homes, to help them prepare things like healthy meals. That's tremendous.
Mark Troyer:Yeah, the medical students really have worked hard with Ka Ren to try to develop those individualized interventions, those individualized actions that are going to be most meaningful for the clients and, and make the best use of those resources that Ka Ren and Boundless have. So that can find clients at their homes that can find clients at local agencies like the YMCA. And what we try to do is just provide that support through our class through the community health education class, so that it has the flexibility, but also the structure for our medical students to do that.
Scott Light:My wife and I've been involved with YMCAs we've lived in several cities, my previous career was in journalism, and journalists kind of hop all over the place a little bit to various jobs. But wherever we were, we were members of the Y, to me, Janet are such community hubs. They have as my wife says it and I think she's right. YMCAs have a soul.
Janet Torres:Yes.
Scott Light:Don't they?
Janet Torres:Yeah.
Scott Light:Can you talk about that, and just being a hub really, for this program to.
Janet Torres:I mean, with the YMCA, especially with our my past experience, as being just a member to now staff and now a manager, it's your kind of welcome, you feel a place where it's a community, you can get services, you get help, especially at Eldon and Elsie Ward, there's just that I'm the same vibe, like you go in there. And it's like, you're home, you're able to communicate, Hey, how's it going? This that, yeah, there's so it's, it's pretty cool that we, that the YMCA is kind of like that.
Scott Light:Ka Ren talk about your, your partners and your friends that you've met with this program?
Ka Ren Steele:Oh, my goodness, you know, the thing for me was just how receptive everyone at the Y was and how the students were, to the program. Because, again, it was a program that I was, it was in my head, a little bit of it was on a piece of paper, nothing was saved in cement. But it came together, because people were willing to do different things, you know, like the why the classes that they did for our individuals, were not classes that were scheduled for the general population at that specific, specific time, what they did was, so we would go to one Y, and they might do lb, which is drumming with sticks, but it was set up just for our individuals so that they could get a taste of it. See, if they liked that, you know, we went to the Eldon, what can I just call it the Ward, Ward YMCA. The word YMCA. And Janet had actually created QR codes. And I want her to talk about that, because I was so excited about that program. And the possibilities there, because it would enable our individuals with their staff to go in and work out on the machine without having to have a personal trainer with them. So I want her to talk about.
Scott Light:Okay, Janet go.
Janet Torres:I presented for Ka Ren during that time. And I presented my story to sa clients, to the individuals, the clients. And the reason I was able to present because I also identify, I identify when having a disability, I diverse ability. And I told my story. And I told them I kind of express like where I where I was to where I am now I didn't I wasn't running, I didn't learn how to run until I was 26 I didn't learn how to do that. And so I got into the YMCA, and I didn't have this, you know, that support and the members there to help once again, we talked about community if it wasn't for the members in that atmosphere, I wouldn't have been able to, to be where I am right now. So just the history of that and knowing what it was like to you know, you enter a facility and whether you can't understand directions or you know, when it can, this is just my you know, my personal experience. You can't understand full directions or understand the, you know, the queues or stuff like that or the machines themselves. So, my desire was to, you know, go make our facility once you know, that was higher and make our facility accessible for all. What does that mean? You're adding like more like certain straps or certain elements and combinations was other equipment for everyone to use. And on top of that, too, I was like, Man, how do I make this simpler? Because there's some more simple sorry. So the one thing I, I remember experiencing being a person with a disability Sorry, I'm taking too long. Okay, but like you highlight say, they're always like, hey, we can we help we can we help you? And the one thing, especially when you have a disability, you have always have to, to tell me one, hell, this is what's going on. This is what happening to me. So I was thinking, man, what if we can set it up with QR codes or having like, little videos, to at least explain each step for each machine. That way, I can still have my independence, that's where whoever buddy can come in can still be kind of on their own. And we don't always have to bear all tool. That makes sense. So that was, and then once I met him, I met her and I was like the program. And I was like, Yes, can I help? I want to be a part of this. Yeah.
Scott Light:And that creates self sufficiency, and creates a real well, a team approach, but also an individual approach. If somebody wants to go down that path with their fitness level or wellness journey.
Mark Troyer:our medical students can't learn this in a textbook. And that is where these partnerships really help our medical students become better doctors in the future. Those stories, those experiences, put together with doing something to meet people where they're at, and advance their health just a little bit. And, and so the expertise that we get from Ka Ren and Janet is really important for educating our future doctors. Thank you guys.
Ka Ren Steele:Oh, you're welcome. But let me just say, I've always tried to sell Boundless, I don't know if they've come back and told you, but one of my first speeches to the students usually is, I'm hoping that you develop a love for this population, because there's always a need for doctors, to provide services for our individuals, good doctors who understand our individuals. So I'm always trying to get your students to think about that possibility.
Mark Troyer:And these are the lessons that we're hoping to teach our medical students, all of our medical students in the first and second year are exposed to different experiences through the community health education course, our administration has, has made this an important class that all medical students should go through. Some have been lucky enough to work with Boundless, others are lucky enough to work with other agencies. But that lesson of getting out of our ivory tower, and in joining the community, joining the individuals, but also the community institutions, like YMCA is an important lesson and making doctors who can who can reach across that divide in an exam room who can who can better identify those barriers to medication adherence to physical activity to diet for any individual, whether they have an intellectual disability, whether they have a difficulty with health literacy, because any other different reason. So all of these lessons, I think, are also generalizable to make better doctors for all.
Scott Light:This is like goosebumps. Seriously. I mean, really, when you're talking about making that connection between the clinical work, and then the human work?
Mark Troyer:Yeah, it turns out patients are people.
Ka Ren Steele:Yeah, exactly. You know, it was funny, because some of the students, you know, when I was having conversations with the individuals, they were like, well, you just talk to him like anybody else. I'm like, yeah, yeah, just like anybody else, you know, and you give it the first time, and if they don't understand, then you may go another route and explain it again. But yeah, you talk to him just like you would anybody else. There's always a yes, definitely.
Scott Light:Ka Ren, you brought up why we need more professionals in the spaces. And I think that tees up a good topic for Dr. Troyer here. Because when we talk about the science, when we talk about health like this, programs like these are really important for people, whether it's folks who have autism or intellectual developmental disabilities, because the research tells us several things here. A lot of a lot of these folks do have increased health risk factors because they have decreased structured physical activity, let's say from lower rates of participation in team sports, possible increase in a sedentary lifestyle, certain selectivities with foods, possible side effects with medications. So Mark, can you talk about some of those factors and what you see again, from the medical side?
Mark Troyer:From the scientific side, actually, autism is a fairly young disease. As we're learning more about it all the time, we have not found a clear risk of autism being directly associated with heart disease or diabetes or high blood pressure. But what we see instead is a relationship between autism and those risk factors that you're talking about. And that's actually somewhat reassuring. Because risk factors are modifiable, we can change diet, we can change physical activity, we may not have one prescription one fit one size fits all. But that's what this whole program is about. And so the science does show particularly that persons with autism have more risk of being overweight or obese than the general population. There may be some increased prevalence of other cardiovascular risk factors talking fancy from from there was a scoping review. That was done in 2018, in the Journal of intellectual disabilities, and they were able to take together a lot of the research that has been done to date, they were fully open about the fact that there's a lot of limitations. This is an area for potentially more research. But the risk factors that that you Scott mentioned are are exactly true. The good news of that is that they are modifiable, there are ways that we can change our behaviors to reduce our risk of that future disease.
Scott Light:And speaking of those modifications, Janet, Karen, you also know this and Mark, of course, you know this as well, when it comes to being active and fitness. We know this, the data also tells us that exercise does things like increase his brain focus increases attention increases physical balance and coordination, decreases health risks, like diabetes, depression, obesity, cardiovascular disease, Janet, I like for you to comment on a couple of things that I just mentioned. But also, I'd like to go back to your story, your personal story of how you discovered running and I bet you probably found some buddies, or maybe a lot of things, maybe maybe a buddy to run with. I mean, tell us more about his personal journey.
Janet Torres:When I started to run and started realizing my body. Things came clear. If that makes any sense. My mind started to slow down sometimes there's just too many thoughts or just too many. I wasn't clear. So after I run into Haftar, I have to work out in the morning. It calms everything down, my body is now relaxed, and I'm able to really hone in be my happy self. And
Ka Ren Steele:Janet, will you tell them what your diverse ability is?
Janet Torres:Yes, I have. I have cerebral palsy. So I am not clear. But I know I also have like attention. It's an it's an our family as well. So and that that what that does, it does have cognitive effects in also, my CPE cerebral palsy is from the trunk down and makes my muscles tight. And I am you know, I do take medication to help relax it. But really working out on a daily base, I learn more about my reaching for purposes. I balance my everyday movements such as studio, stooping lunges, squatting, things we should be doing every day. Because we have access, I have access to a facility I know how to use the equipment now or made it like for myself, I'm able to do those things going up and down the stairs. So that's why I increase the accessibility within our fitness industry or especially the YMCA is and thank goodness I'm a part of that is very important for the community.
Scott Light:Alright, and I'll be honest with us, is there really such a thing as a runner's high?
Ka Ren Steele:I think so it's like good
Scott Light:Really, really? Okay.
Janet Torres:When I ran for the first time it was so you would say you would a mile when the bridge was just built, I think was brand new. And I remember this to the day, or I'm a dial back really quickly when I was like five or six years old, I had braces and I wasn't really running or walking a lot. I remember I had a dream. I had a dream where I was running through the grass and running and I could feel the grass between my toes. And I get always motion I tell the story. But it was it was I was a child six or seven. That's how vivid I remember this. So when I was 26 and I was starting my it was a collar run my first run and having CP it's like putting on a tight pair of jeans and you want to extend so I was running and you know doing my best and I thought that was it. But at a certain point. My body loosened up the goosebumps, you know the adrenaline, and I just drifted and at that moment I remember my dream I remember drifting in the air air hitting my face. It is it is such. It was such a monumental moment in my life because right after that, like that night, I was like, I want to be a personal trainer. I want to do this and because it was the Navigating learning how to navigate through the gym, and I'm like, man, if this was already here, can you imagine how many kids how many people can learn how to run sooner or faster? You know, I was taken aback on it, because I didn't learn until I was 26. We don't say, but still, it's great. But I'm like, man, there's got to be younger kids or children, probably going down the same road, if we can increase that. And after physical therapy, you know, they can still come in our facilities is still do what needs to be done. So they can still live it live their lives to the fullest. Why not? Right? So
Ka Ren Steele:living that best life? Yeah, sorry. That's my, that is my mantra. I want my folks to live their best life, whatever that looks like. And I say that all the time. And to me, you can't really live your best life if you're unhealthy. You know, so, so it's important to understand how they connect your health and living your best life being able to live your best life. I just want to let you know, she also did bodybuilding.
Janet Torres:Oh, yeah.
Ka Ren Steele:Oh, my goodness. I think she's, she's protesting the hills that you said, we talked about those hills.
Janet Torres:Yeah.
Scott Light:Do not mess with Janet. That's really the point of this whole episode. Ka Ren, you're also really good. And again, there's research to back this up, when when fitness exercise staying active, when it's fun, A and B, when you can find a buddy or buddies, the data is clear. And that is people stick with it longer.
Ka Ren Steele:Exactly. And that was really and truly my idea behind all of this and what I want it to happen with the individuals that participated that they become like a little group, you know, they they look to each other. Actually, there are some who, you know, will always ask me how so and so doing, you know, from the group, and it's, it's amazing, and we're going to keep meeting, not officially like we were weekly, but we are going to meet go to a why maybe go for a walk, have some fun in the park, that kind of thing. But because they told me at the end, they didn't want it to end. You know what I mean? They were having so much fun. They didn't want it to end. In the beginning. It was like pulling teeth to get them there. But then once they got there, they got to experience the activities, the fun, they wanted to keep going, they want it to
Scott Light:And Mark to you, I would imagine in your mind, one keep going. of the things that you think about when you hear stories like Ka ren and when you hear Janet, and you're thinking, Well, you know what that influences health outcomes, three, five and 10 years down the road. Because when people are having fun with fitness, then usually that becomes a habit, and then that habit becomes a way of life.
Mark Troyer:Yeah, I should cite some sort of study right now. But I'm just going to talk about my own personal life. I ride a stationary bike, and I've been, you know, struggling to do that consistently. And just like Ka Ren is saying, having a structure around that. And in my structure has some of the social stuff that you're talking about. But also I recognize I'm a huge nerd. So I then we'll research about all the different things about my different rides, and the different details of analyzing my rides, and other things like that everybody has a different way of scratching that itch of making exercise fun. And recognizing that and in using that can be valuable to have a sustainable life of physical activity, physical activity is good, and particularly aerobic physical activity that is matched to somebody's ability. So the, you know, 30 to 40 year old guys who think that they're still 20 years old and go out and just injure themselves by running too much too fast. It's more it's that same lesson we're trying to learn through this whole podcast is Find that thing that's right for you advance it a little bit and push yourself from where you are, to where your next place is. You don't necessarily need to like climb the whole mountain all at once. And so me learning that is the same as Janet learning that is the same as anybody else learning that. And using that to build a lifetime of physical activity does have scientific evidence that it significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease in particular,
Scott Light:I can remember I was playing softball in a league a few years ago. And I was still, you know, sliding into bases and just doing just dumb stuff. And my wife pulled me aside after a game and she said, You're not 25. And I really did have a mental block. Like, I really thought I could still do that. I mean, really, I think it's a strange thing.
Mark Troyer:It's when we compare ourselves to what we think we should yeah, and not what we what we truly are.
Ka Ren Steele:You know, one of the things I do want to bring up is that most of the activities that I do on the virtual, because we still have virtual programming for our individuals, and I call it Fun with Ka Ren, I don't call it exercise, because the minute you say, exercise, it turns people off. So it's Fun with Ka Ren. And I try to make it fun. I try to talk to them as we're going along, you know, laughing a little bit. And then we have a time once we're done, where are we? Can we talk for a little bit before we sign out? But to me, saying exercise? I have watched people say actually, no, don't do that. Don't do that. You know, but you say fun. And it's like, okay, I'll give it a try, you know?
Scott Light:So as we start to wind down our conversation here, Ka Ren, how can people continue to support this program?
Ka Ren Steele:Well, we are always looking for donors, and donors can donate specifically to the recreation fund in central Ohio. And that would be going to the program that I provide. There are also corporations who do grants and we're always looking for grants grant money to help with the programs. So if you're out there and you hear me donate some money, look at Boundless.
Scott Light:I thank you all for being here. I gotta tell you, we've talked about a whole lot but for me, this episode is about hashtag goosebumps, because I've gotten several times from this conversation. Thank you all for being here. Thank you for having me. Thanks to our listeners as well. You can be part of episodes to come you can always email us your questions or your comments at podcast at I am boundless dot o RG. And don't forget, give us a great review. No matter where you're listening to us on whatever platform it may be. Give us a good review because that's another way that we want to hear from all of you. This is the Well-Being podcast, brought to you by Boundless.