Cape VNA Brings Wellness Program To Region

ORLEANS – For 20 years, Kristen Siminski approached healthcare in the traditional sense. A seasoned physical therapist, she worked at Cape Cod Hospital, mostly in the emergency room, attending to people’s physical injuries and ailments.
 
But as her interest in holistic health and wellness grew, she began thinking about other ways of addressing the full spectrum of patient health.
 
“I love working in the hospital, absolutely love it, doing education and working with patients that have issues,” she said. “But I also really wanted to transition to a role in more preventative health, health and wellness before the hospital.”
 
About a year ago, Siminski left the hospital for the Visiting Nurse Association of Cape Cod, which also falls under the umbrella of Cape Cod Healthcare. With the VNA, she earned her certification to lead a new program, “Paving the Path to Wellness,” in select towns on the Cape.
 
The free program was founded in 2012 by Dr. Beth Frates, a physician who Siminski called a “lifestyle medicine pioneer.” Over the course of the multi-week program, participants learn how things such as stress management, social engagement and goal setting complement nutrition, sleep and other factors more commonly associated with healthy living.

“The thing that I thought was most exciting about it is that a healthcare system, Cape Cod Healthcare, is supporting that,” she said. “I think there is a movement toward healthcare professionals being able to talk about health and wellness and whole health. I think it’s important that we on the Cape and Cape Cod Healthcare are supporting a program like this.”

Siminski first introduced Paving the Path to Wellness in Falmouth, where a 12-week course was held at the town’s senior center in the fall. The success of the program there led to conversations with town officials in Orleans, where an eight-week version of the program is set to wrap up on March 6.

The program aligns with Orleans’ recent rebranding of its health department as the department of health and human services. Overseen by Alex Fitch, the re-envisioned department takes a broader look at community health by focusing on health and mental wellness.

“[Alex] and I had talked,” Siminski said. ”I pitched this to her because she wanted to do more health and wellness, and we were just a good fit together because we believed in it.”

Each session, which Siminski runs alongside Molly Ives of the Cape VNA, begins with what Siminski calls a short “check-in” with participants about how they’re feeling. That’s followed by an “evidence-based slideshow.” Topics range from nutrition and exercise to attitude, energy, purpose, investigation and social support.

Siminski said the program also offers patients the opportunity to connect with local organizations and resources to further address their needs.

“Someone might be lonely. ‘OK, Elder Services has a caregiver support program,’” she said. “There’s the Alzheimer’s Family Support Program for someone who might be a caregiver. We’re very well connected within the community.”

The Falmouth program proved so successful that it will return in the fall, while Siminski said the program will be brought to the senior center in Provincetown in April. She said the steady growth of the program on the Cape is more evidence of a focus shift in healthcare toward mental health and wellness.

“We as healthcare providers should be talking about this, should be talking about whole health,” she said. “I’m not just talking about physical activity, exercise and nutrition. I’m talking about loneliness, social connection, stress management, self compassion. All of it.”

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com