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Many programs claim to improve the health of older adults. Few can demonstrate real results based on sound scientific research. From the beginning, EnhanceFitness — a program managed by Senior Services (Seattle, WA) in collaboration with Group Health Cooperative and the University of Washington Health Promotion Research Center — has demonstrated measurable results.

David Buchner, PhD, who was formerly an investigator at the University of Washington Health Promotion Research Center and former head of the Centers for Disease Control Physical Activity programs, and Elaine Cress, PhD, who is currently at the University of Georgia, designed the Lifetime Fitness Program, now known as EnhanceFitness. The pilot program began in 1993 at the Northshore Senior Center, in Bothell, WA. The response from participants was immediate and overwhelmingly positive.

Even before the pilot study ended, participants were requesting to use the program as a permanent exercise activity at the center. Not only were the center members excited about participating, but study measures showed that the group improved significantly in almost every dimension tested, from physical and social functioning to levels of pain and depression. The pilot results, published in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society, showed that the program significantly improved overall fitness and health.

As of March 2008, over 7,500 adults have participated in EnhanceFitness. The original independent study demonstrated that participants realized:

• 13% improvement in social function
  
• 52% improvement in depression
  
• 35% improvement in physical functioning

A cost analysis by the University of Washington on members of a local health management organization (HMO) showed healthcare utilization costs of EnhanceFitness participants were 79% of non-participants' costs to their HMO after one year. Another study of participants in ethnic community sites with nutrition programs showed that these participants, although less physically fit to start with when compared to majority-white communities, showed greater improvement than those in majority-white sites.

EnhanceFitness has won awards from the National Council on Aging, U.S. Administration on Aging, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the Washington Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity, and the International Council on Aging. Research to refine and broaden the application of EnhanceFitness continues at the University of Washington Health Promotion Research Center.

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