USD football players create relationships with local Sanford residents through WHOGA program
In addition to the University of South Dakota football team, Ryan Saeger and Ryan Hillier spend time with a different age group — a weekly yoga team at the Sanford Care Center in Vermillion.
What started out as a community service fulfillment for a long-term health care class has turned into a friendship with residents of the local health facility.
“The work is very rewarding,” sophomore quarterback Saeger said. “A lot of them tell us after the session is done that they like it and it helps them. It gives them another activity to do throughout the day and helps their quality of life and quality of care.”
Every Wednesday, Saeger and Hillier conduct a WHOGA, or wheelchair yoga session, in the care center for anyone at the care center. The first yoga session took place February 20.
Senior linebacker Hillier said the almost hour-long session is a good change of pace for the participants.
“Even though it might not be too complicated, it’s getting them to move,” Hillier said.
The WHOGA session is part of the arts program at Sanford, which program coordinator and artist in residence Ari Albright said is meant to “enhance programming and quality of life care for residents of long-term care facility, specifically adults with special needs or dementia.”
Albright was the interim painting professor at USD in 2011 and 2012. She started working at Sanford Arts Vermillion in 2013, and asked some of her former students to bring in work to have an exhibit for the residents and staff.
From that, Albright got her first interns and the program continued to grow.
“As an artist, our primary purpose here is to support wellness through arts and arts engagement,” Albright said.
The program offers the Sanford residents with not only artistic opportunities such as painting and drawing, but it has expanded to include music, literature and movement, which WHOGA falls under.
“It’s a very dynamic program,” Albright said. “We’re finding more and more ways to utilize the talent that comes through the door.”
Albright said “the Ryans” have been well-received.
“There’s something that’s inspiring about the Ryans in the way that they conduct their exercise session,” Albright said. “Anytime students come over, they bring a vitality.”
April 22 was the last WHOGA session of this semester. Saeger said he has enjoyed witnessing the interaction the program promotes between those involved.
“We had a resident today get on another one because she wasn’t stretching right,” Saeger said, laughing with Hillier about the incident. “It’s just cool to see them actively engaged in it.”
Hillier’s favorite part of doing the weekly WHOGA sessions has been the residents’ reactions.
“You just get some giggles out of them or smiles — just that little smile once you walk in is pretty cool, and then at the end they say how good they feel and they’re looking forward to next week,” Hillier said. “That makes you feel pretty good.”
Both of the USD students will be in Vermillion over the summer and hope to continue the program throughout the break and possibly next school year as their schedules allow.
“The residents have been very appreciative. I wasn’t really expecting that, to be honest,” Saeger said. “We were just kind of doing it for a class, but when you come here every week and you start to see that it’s routine for them, you want to keep that going.”
(Photo: University of South Dakota football players Ryan Hillier, right, and Ryan Saeger, center, participate in a WHOGA, or wheelchair yoga session April 28 at the Sanford Care Center in Vermillion. Cristina Drey / The Volante)
