All together now

The services offered by the Center for Active Aging and Healthy Living physical therapy, social work, diet and fitness expertise among them are provided by any number of professionals in northern Nevada.

The idea of Lauri Kalanges, the physician who launched the center a few weeks ago, is this: Bring those professional services under one roof so clients can receive coordinated services at a convenient location.

Opening the Center for Active Aging and Healthy Living marks the culmination of about two years of work for Kalanges, who wrapped up an earlier career as a plastic surgeon to pursue a degree in public health at the University of Massachusetts.

As she returned to school, Kalanges increasingly thought about the health needs of the aging American population and she became aware that those needs will be especially critical in Nevada.

By the year 2030, about 70 million Americans will be 65 or older.

Nevada, which currently ranks 45th among the states in the number of older adults, is expected to rank 15th within 25 years.

"We are getting a rapid influx of older adults here,"Kalanges says."We have to start intervening in a proactive way."

The key word is "proactive." The medical model developed by Kalanges for the Center for Active Aging and Healthy Living a team of professionals working together is common in home health care or rehabilitation organizations.

But Kalanges says the model is uncommon among health practitioners who work with clients to improve their health before serious problems arise.

Her observation was supported during focus-group sessions that helped shape the new center.

Participants in those sessions strongly voiced their desire for a one-stop location.

The Center for Active Aging and Healthy Living provides a two-pronged approach.

A program called "50's Plus Options" addresses the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of people aged 50 and up.Along with individual counseling, the center provides seminars in life planning as well as courses raging from health to relaxation.

The second program,"Senior TLC," provides information and support for older clients and their caregivers.

Kalanges spent the last couple of years assembling the team of professionals who work at the Center for Active Aging and Healthy Living.

Betsy Hall, a licensed clinical social worker, counsels individuals and families who face big changes in their lives and helps them make good decisions about the elder-care options that are available.

Kerry Seymour, the center's license dietitian, provides general information about health eating as well as specific dietary instruction for clients with medical problems such as diabetes or a heart ailment.

Gary Standifer, a licensed physical therapist, also teaches clients about strength and conditioning.

Another approach is taken by Mark Lord, a t'ai chi instructor whose classes at the center teach the Chinese system of meditative physical exercises.

Client coordinator Linda Beers and Kalanges round out the staff.

So far, Kalanges says, about half the clients of the center have been referred by physicians; the others have learned of the center on their own.

The physician referrals, Kalanges says, are the result of hours she's spent reviewing the concept of the new center with the medical community.

"We want to be complementary to all the services offered in Reno," she says."We're not in competition with physicians."

Although Kalanges has more than a decade experience as a physician, the Center for Active Aging and Healthy Living isn't a medical practice.

While the center marks a new direction for providers of professional services, Kalanges faced some old-fashioned challenges in putting the business together.

Chief among the challenges: finding the right location.

She decided on offices at 9990 Double R Blvd., on the second floor of the Nevada Security Bank Building, both because of its easy access for clients as well as the light that pours into the office through its windows.

Kalanges got plenty of advice about the business from a nine-member advisory board she gathered early during the planning process.

That group provides guidance on issues ranging from legalities to the needs of aging residents.