Joan Cleffi has been married for 54 years and has four children. When she was younger, she was athletic. As she got older, she continued to pursue her athletic interests and walked several miles every day. Yet after a bone density test in 2001, she was diagnosed with osteopenia, a precursor of osteoporosis. Despite watching her diet and continuing to walk, a second test in 2003 found that the bone density in her hips had decreased further. Joan’s doctor recommended that she take Fosamax. She wanted to find another way.
Luckily, she found Nancy Hess, the director of RSVP of Morris, Sussex and Warren Counties, sponsored by Northwest Jersey Community Action Program (NORWESCAP), Inc.
“The Northwest Jersey Community Action Program serves over 30,000 people every year,” said Hess. “We recently teamed up with Project Healthy Bones, an education and exercise program designed to help raise awareness and prevent osteoporosis in senior women. The program has become so popular that we now have a waiting list.”
The growth in popularity is what caused Hess to apply for the RYKÄ Women’s Fitness Grant. This grant provides financial assistance to women’s fitness programs that empower and enhance the self-esteem of women aged 25 and older, combine fitness activity with health education and/or serve women recovering from health and/or emotional challenges. She knew that Project Healthy Bones was a perfect fit for this grant and that the funding would help expand the program to more communities.
Cleffi joined Project Healthy Bones and was excited to learn about nutrition. She faithfully did the new exercises she was taught. In August 2006, she went back for another bone density test. She was thrilled when it showed “statistically significant improvement” in both her hips and spine. “I’d like to thank the Women’s Sports Foundation for funding this program,” Cleffi said. “I am proud that I’ll be turning 72 next week and also proud that I am not taking any osteoporosis medication.”