TEXAS \u2014 Many Texas senior living communities provide their residents with activities to support physical and mental health. Inside a Houston-area community called Laural Parke, senior citizens are literally drumming up new friendships and a shared purpose.<\/p>\n
Members of the Laural Parke STIX & Country Crew are using drumsticks as part of their exercise routine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s called cardio drumming, but it\u2019s more mental than anything,\u201d said Jena Hoofnagle, founder of the group, whose elder members currently range from 72 to 96 years old. \u201cThey have to think ahead. They have to be cognizant of the group as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Ed Fann, 96, is one of the original founding members. Fann is a retired gerontologist and neuroscientist.<\/p>\n
\u201cActivities are very important for old people, and things like this, drumming, are good not only for you physically, but really good for your brain,\u201d Fann said.<\/p>\n
The group performs for fellow seniors and churches around the area. Hoofnagle said they did a tour last summer, taking their bus out to different communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get lots of cheers and claps, and [they] want us to come back,\u201d said Beth Johnson.<\/p>\n
Cheryl Hillman reflected on her days in her high school band.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played cornet, and then I was a majorette, so I never thought I would play the drums,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have a good time together. We support each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sylvia Landry, 76, said she\u2019s counting the beats and the blessings at Laural Parke.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a wonderful place to have an opportunity to stay active with your mind and your body,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The drummers say they enjoy the fellowship and friendships that literally last a lifetime.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, that\u2019s the downside of this. You get to love somebody, and then they\u2019re gone,\u201d said Fann. \u201cNobody feels sorry for anybody that leaves here because this is the best place in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019re drumming away with a shared bond and a purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a family, and I love them, and they love what I do,\u201d Hoofnagle said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEXAS \u2014 Many Texas senior living communities provide their residents with activities to support physical and mental health.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[132,1570,102,138,56,58,57,223,82,27,1569,15717,835],"class_list":["post-411844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-austin","tag-ctv","tag-dallas","tag-el-paso","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-news","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas","tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","tag-valencia-jones","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}