Bakersfield.com

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At 94-years-old, Eleanor Freeland wants to grow up to be an old woman. While most of us would like to be flexible, flexibility is not what pushed Eleanor to Kaiser Permanente’s chair exercise class. It was being able to control her borderline diabetic condition that brought her to the chair.

It’s almost been two years since Dr. Charlton Wong told Eleanor that her life was about to change. “He told me that I was on the borderline of being diabetic,” the spunky 94-year-old says. “I didn’t want to go on medication so he helped me find a different way of staying healthy.”

And that’s exactly what she’s done. Every Friday morning, Eleanor shows up to the Kaiser Permanente Ming Medical Office Building for an hour long chair exercise class taught by Nurse Educator, Ellie Vasquez.

The hour-long class emphasizes the importance of staying active, limber and social. “I like coming to class,” Eleanor says. “I’m taking care of my health and I’m making friends. This is a nice social time for me.”

When Eleanor isn’t chair dancing, she likes to hit the gym on a regular basis. She spends her time on the elliptical, treadmill and stationary bike. “It’s important to stay active,” she says. “It’s what keeps me going.”

Eleanor is just one of many stories of how Kaiser Permanente’s proactive approach to total health care is effective.