Capitalizing on the ‘magic pill for health’: Bernardston Senior Center distributes 45 Fitbits to encourage activity

BERNARDSTON — As part of an effort to encourage seniors to increase their movement and fitness levels, the Bernardston Senior Center distributed 45 new Fitbits to older residents of Bernardston, Leyden, Gill and Montague.

The Bernardston Senior Center purchased the Fitbit Inspire 3 devices using a $5,650 grant from the Massachusetts Councils on Aging. While distributing the devices at a luncheon on Monday, Senior Center Director Pam Parmakian said she is incredibly excited to see how this effort can help people track their fitness.

“I’m really excited about this grant,” Parmakian said. “The whole intention of this program is so that we can gauge our own personal goals. … Every day I want to set my goals, whether it’s my steps, calorie burning, sleep, heart rate. The device has a lot of capabilities.”

The Fitbit Inspire 3 tracker is a lightweight fitness tracking device powered by Google Health. The device can track a person’s heart rate, step count, blood oxygen level, skin temperature, sleep and more. Users can see their stats on the small touchscreen watch face or by connecting the device to the Google Health app on their phones.

Parmakian said the Senior Center advertised the devices in its newsletter and fitness classes. The Fitbits could then be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. The center plans to hold monthly luncheons where seniors can talk about their fitness and health data, and get help figuring out their goals and how to best use their devices.

Meg Ryan, a regional public health nurse with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, joined Parmakian in distributing the devices and helping seniors get them set up. She said exercise is essential to maintaining health, and she hopes the devices will prompt more people to stay active.

“If there’s a magic pill for health, it’s movement,” Ryan said. “My goal for people would be for them to pay attention to how much they’re moving, and to move more. Because movement is really directly connected to health.”

Resident Charlene Cloutier said she plans to use the device to track her steps and, in particular, to see how much walking she does on an upcoming vacation to Italy and Spain. She added that she has friends who already have Fitbits, and she likes that there are options to have the device vibrate and remind the user to move after periods of idleness.

“It’ll force me to try to keep moving,” Cloutier said. “I have friends that have them, and they yell at them … so I’m looking forward to getting yelled at by my watch.”

Resident Ann Wagner joked that she can be a bit of a couch potato, and she believes being able to more easily see her health data will encourage her to exercise more. She added that following a heart bypass surgery, she’s excited to have a device that can track her heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels.

“It’ll keep me motivated to do something,” Wagner said. “Hopefully, it’ll keep me active.”