Vera Backman, Dee Morarity and Susie Jones scanned two long rows of chairs in a large dining area of Heisinger Bluffs Lutheran Senior Services community, looking for three seats near each other. Successful in their conquest, they sat down, each with a large exercise ball on top of a basket placed in front of them.
Their personal conversation joined the chatter of 40-plus fellow residents until the song "We Are Family" came on over the speaker. Drumsticks in hand, they followed the lead of their instructor Kelley Hagemeyer as she led them through a series of warm-up exercises and then routines beating on their "drums" to the pop music of the mid-20th century.
For 30 minutes, the residents enjoyed dancing and jamming out to the music while Hagemeyer led their routines and ran up and down the line of participants between two drums of her own.
The friendship between Backman, Morarity and Jones began with all three ladies living on the same floor at Heisinger Bluffs. But the ladies became even closer through participating in activities together like Drums Alive.
"The music is very good and it makes you want to move," Jones said.
"It looks like a simple thing, but it really is challenging and fun," Backman added.
Drums Alive's founder Carrie Ekins created the program out of necessity by simply drumming on boxes to have fun while going through a long rehabilitation process after a hip injury. She was intrigued by the positive effects drumming had for her aerobically and mentally, according to Drums Alive's website, and she explored why "drumming" issues those feelings. She discovered the drum patterns help the brain generate enhanced Alpha waves, synchronize the hemispheres and heal the body on many levels, the website said. So, Ekins started Drums Alive, which is based in Hawaii.
A staff member received information about Drums Alive's multiple programs, including Golden Beats that is structured for seniors. After looking more into the program, they decided to give it a try, said Sarah March, director of resident services at Heisinger Bluffs.
In January 2016, Heisinger Bluffs hired a licensed Drums Alive instructor based in Missouri, who led the program once a month with independent and assisted living residents. That instructor had to leave a year later, so Heisinger Bluffs staff decided to continue the program themselves. Hagemeyer was the perfect person to teach it.
In her role as active living coordinator at Heisinger, she provides wellness, private pay therapy and a variety of exercise classes for residents in all levels of care including basic exercise, chair chi and a new Upbeats dance exercise class to Motown music.
"To be a licensed instructor you have to have some kind of exercise science background. I have my master's in kinesiology, so that pre-qualified me," she said, noting she received her certification online in December 2017. "It is pretty science based. Through the training, it shows you how to do all the basic movements to reach your main goals. Those are to decrease your blood pressure, decrease resting heart rate, increase respiratory rate, increase blood and capacity, increase balance, coordination, memory, concentration, etc. It shows what you use to help with those things."
Drums Alive offers multiple programs including Academic Beats for teachers to use in school, Ability Beats, which provides a "Whole Mind, Whole Body" approach for all ages and abilities. The organization also provides two fitness programs, including Power Beats for adults and Golden Beats for seniors, in which Hagemeyer uses at Heisinger Bluffs.
The program allows her Drums Alive participants to sit or stand in front of an exercise ball propped on a laundry basket, Hagemeyer said. Then they hit the exercise balls with drumsticks or pool noodles, depending on the adaptation needed, to familiar music in various rhythmic patterns.
"With the Golden Beats program, there is a lot of older songs that they like and will enjoy hearing and remembering. We are on our third mix since I started this program in all levels at Heisinger Bluffs in January 2018," she said. "Every three or four months, we'll switch up the routines and try to switch up the mixes of music, too, with what becomes available."
After Hagemeyer was certified, March said Heisinger Bluffs looked at offering it in every level of living, which includes independent living, assisted living, memory care assisted living, long term care, respite care (planned or emergency care in long term, assisted living or memory care assisted living), REACH short stay rehabilitation and outpatient therapy.
"I am able to take the movements and what I have learned and customize it for each level of care. For example, the routine I would choreograph for the skill level residents (the ones that require the most care) would be much different than what I would expect out of our independent or assisted living residents, which is the largest class we have," Hagemeyer said.
March said with memory care residents or for those with dementia in assisted living, they find even the simple instructions of following along with the music keeps those residents engaged.
"It is neat to see the people up dancing around, standing and doing it. Then we have others that are completely reclined that are still getting something out of it. They are not getting all the benefits I mentioned to that same degree, but they are getting some of them. We have a resident in skilled living care and she is in the end stages of dementia and she is no longer verbal, but she is still doing it. That is neat to see.
"Whenever I have the skilled or the memory care, I am going with basic beats. Then you might try to do some crossover as we progress. We might get them to stand up and hit your neighbor's ball as long as you don't hit your neighbor," she added with a laugh. "We try to go outside their comfort zone."
Hagemeyer said she typically starts with basic moves, building up to more difficult ones and trickier combinations that challenge the residents' heart rate, flexibility and range of motion. Then, she brings that heart rate back down, like in most exercise classes.
"I try to get all the levels to do these things. It just may be on a smaller scale depending on their level of living," she said. "If you can get 15 minutes of exercise (for the residents), you are doing good. A full 30 minutes was a little bit concerning, but when they go the music going, it is so different. Music is so powerful."
"Even in memory care or people with dementia in assisted living, we find that even the simple instructions of following along with the music keeps them engaged," March added.
Hagemeyer teaches Drums Alive five times per month to residents at Heisinger Bluffs and St. Joseph's Bluffs, including twice month to 30-40 independent and assisted living residents at Heisinger. She, alongside March and fellow staff, also demonstrated Drums Alive to nurses and administrators during a the Missouri League of Nurses conference in early April at Lake of the Ozarks and has two additional presentations at the Veterans Association's statewide meeting and asked by the Department of Health and Senior Services.
Whether out in the community or at home at Heisinger or St. Joseph, everyone involved in Drums Alive wears a lime green "You Got the Beat" T-shirt, which are important in many ways.
"The shirts make everyone have a community feel. We wanted to make it like a movement. What better way to do that than have special shirts you wear for the event. We went with loud, lime green because others can spot it down the hallway, knowing it is Drums Alive day. It is also a great reminder and encourage people to come out," Hagemeyer said. "It is a very universal program and you can tailor it to fit your residents and do your best to make it fun. Because if it is not fun, no one is coming back."
Drums Alive participants said a big part of that fun is Hagemeyer.
"Kelley is wonderful. She is full of energy and has more energy five of us can put together," she said with a laugh. "She is so encouraging and we enjoy being with her. It is fun, and it is good for all of us."
Hagemeyer said the feedback of the class has been wonderful, adding some family members who come to visit are amazed by how Drums Alive gets their loved ones up and moving.
"There have been a few family members come up and say, 'I can't believe my mom would come to this; she would never have done something like this before.' Those are people that are most loyal and they keep coming back," she said. "When people come to a continuous care community, there are apprehensions. But it is neat when they have that bonding, something they can look forward too, see the green shirts and go put their shirts on. It creates that sense of belonging like a club."
Martine Pelletier has come to as many Drums Alive classes as she can for the past year he has lived at Heisinger Bluffs. She takes other forms of exercise classes, but she believes Drums Alive does more for her body, mind and spirit.
"I love the music and it gets you in the mood to really want to bang out," she said with a smile.