Photo: Patrick Hanley
For many older adults in rural communities, virtual classes offer opportunities for supervised physical activity that were rare before the pandemic. In 2022, at least 1,547 Minnesota seniors - more than half from rural areas - took part in online fitness through Juniper, a statewide network of providers of health promotion classes. AgeOptions, an Illinois agency serving seniors, has seen similar benefits but says bandwidth is often a challenge. It now mails a printed bingo card to participants in Bingocize, a fall-prevention program licensed by Western Kentucky University that combines exercise and health education with bingo, who can’t play on the game’s app. “From when the pandemic began to now, we’ve come light-years on how that is done,” said designer Jason Crandall, “and everybody’s getting more comfortable with it.”
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