At Eaton Senior Communities, we are passionate about wellness!  In 2015, Eaton was awarded a $50,000 grant to establish a replicable framework for providing wellness coaching interns to individuals living in affordable housing.  The grant work really took off and Eaton became curious about measuring the impact of wellness coaching on residents’ lives. 

Last year, Eaton received a $10,000 grant from The Colorado Health Foundation to gather and interpret data to measure the effects of wellness coaching.  Early this year, Eaton received another $10,000 grant from The Comprecare Fund at The Denver Foundation to assist in completing this research project and revise the replicable framework, as needed. 

During the past spring semester, three healthcare management interns from Metropolitan State University of Denver, overseen by Dr. Bobbie Kite, spent time shadowing staff at Eaton in order to map the data collection points.  Over the summer, another round of interns from both MSU Denver and the University of Denver are working on entering and interpreting the data. 

Eaton has ample anecdotal evidence of the positive impact that wellness coaching makes on individuals’ lives.  Whether it is losing weight, adjusting to a new community or gaining strength, wellness coaches have helped our residents feel empowered to meet their goals.

In addition, Eaton has seen the enormous impact that the internship experience can make on an intern’s career path.  One of Eaton’s interns from the past semester received a job offer immediately after graduation to launch a wellness coaching program within a pain management clinic.  Thanks to her experience at her Eaton internship, she was already highly qualified and ready for the position.  Stay tuned to hear the results of our wellness coaching study over the next year!