
DATE: Wednesday, October 22, 1997           TAG: 9710220041

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAT DOOLEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  109 lines

HEALTH: HOPE HOUSE CLIENTS JUMP AT CHANCE FOR FITNESS

BRENDA VIELE does aerobics once a week, swims occasionally at the YMCA and shops for fresh fruits and vegetables she can turn into simple, healthful feasts.

A year ago, she couldn't even pick her own wardrobe, let alone cook her own meals.

Viele, of Portsmouth, is mildly retarded and has lived many of her 32 years in institutions. As late as the 1970s, that was a common solution for people with developmental disabilities who could not live with their families.

They had few choices, and little privacy or contact with the outside world. They seldom learned how to perform tasks most people take for granted - balancing a checkbook, doing laundry, buying groceries.

They were even less likely to learn about the relationship of balanced nutrition and exercise to good health.

Now, Norfolk's Hope House Foundation, a nonprofit group that helps the developmentally disabled live independently, is coordinating a Health and Wellness Project aimed at increasing participants' odds for longevity by improving fitness levels and nutrition know-how.

Chronic conditions such as high-blood pressure, diabetes and obesity commonly affect people with developmental disabilities, says project coordinator Paula Traverse-Charlton.

The project, funded by a recent pair of grants, includes a weekly aerobics class for any of Hope House's 100 clients.

Staff members and volunteers, too, learn about nutrition and wellness through public meetings called Pathways to the Community. Those people, in turn, help clients like Viele shop for groceries, cook and establish exercise routines.

At the YMCAs of South Hampton Roads, clients even can work out for free with volunteer exercise buddies.

Viele, whose father left home in 1966 and whose mother died two decades later, first heard about Hope House a couple of years ago.

Almost by luck, she met a director from the foundation who was visiting the hospital where she lived.

Viele, who longed for a place of her own and a chance to explore life, spearheaded her own transfer into the community-based program, founded 30 years ago by parents of people with developmental disabilities. Today, it helps adults and adolescents with mental retardation, traumatic brain injury, autism and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia live independently in a world once closed to them.

``You mostly do stuff for yourself, and what you can't do they do for you,'' says Viele.

She now lives in a two-bedroom apartment with another woman in the Hope House program. A support coordinator is near 24 hours a day, and the pair have help preparing meals, cleaning house, paying bills and getting around.

Viele, who wants to lose weight and quit smoking, also has jumped into exercise.

Each Thursday around 5 p.m., she climbs into a Hope House van that delivers her and a dozen or so others to the Knights of Columbus building in Olde Towne Portsmouth. There, certified fitness instructor Cathy Stavenger leads an aerobics class just for them.

Stavenger is paid with dollars from the grants. Use of the cavernous second-floor dance hall is donated by the Knights.

On a recent Thursday, rock music pours from a small black boom box. Stavenger's charges march in place.

``Right foot. Left foot. Good job!'' she chirps.

Viele, who wants to flatten her tummy, has toted a vinyl blue exercise mat to class. After a rousing 45 minutes of stretches, aerobics and more stretches, Stavenger shows the class how to safely perform abdominals.

Viele lies on her back, knees bent and carefully completes a series of ``crunches.''

``This hurts,'' she says, clearly delighted nonetheless.

Exercise makes her feel good, Viele says. ``I'm more relaxed.''

Denise Parker, 44, of Norfolk, echoes Viele's enthusiasm. She also walks about two miles a day with a friend.

``Before, we didn't have an option for people like Brenda to go out and do aerobics,'' says Viele's support coordinator Stephanie Dutton. ``Having a disability limits where you go.''

At the apartment complex where Viele, her roommate and four other participants live, more opportunities are becoming available. An exercycle and a stair-stepper recently were donated. There is talk of forming a walking group.

Support coordinators like Dutton also accompany participants to the grocery store, helping them choose wisely and then put the ingredients together at home.

For Viele, that has meant salads in place of cookies. Fruits instead of cakes.

``She was always talking about going on a diet,'' says Dutton. Now, Viele strives for balance in her foods.

Her self-esteem and coping skills have improved, too. ``She's starting to set goals for herself,'' Dutton says.

Viele, who receives Social Security and Medicaid, also works three days a week, separating forks and spoons in a community services board kitchen. On Tuesdays, she takes a computer class through a special program at Norfolk's Old Dominion University.

This week, she plans to go on the nicotine patch to help curb her desire to smoke.

And she's determined to lose a few pounds.

Says Dutton, chuckling: ``She wants to be Catwoman on Halloween.'' MEMO: The public is invited to attend Hope House Foundation's

Pathways to the Community meetings, which are held six times a year, at

First Presbyterian Church in Norfolk's Ghent. The next meeting will be

at 6 p.m. Nov. 13. For information, call 625-6161. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Developmentally disabled clients of the Hope House Foundation enjoy

free exercise workouts in Portsmouth.

Project coordinator Paula Traverse-Charlton helps Jackie Sinkula

with weights.