BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – The Beckley VA Medical Center expanded its telehealth classes to its Whole Health Program. Now the VAMC will provide virtual Tai Chi, meditation, guided imagery, acupressure, and yoga classes to veterans. Recreational Therapist Lydia Cox says the virtual classes are beneficial to both the veterans and the instructors.
“The big benefit of virtual classes is we stay connected with the veteran,” Recreational Therapist Lydia Cox. “We can check on their well-being, we can check to see if they need anything also with connecting with them we are connecting with the exercise part of it for their mental and physical state.”
The virtual classes also allow veterans to interact with each other and experience the camaraderie that they are used to. One of the veterans says the yoga classes are a great way to stay limber and get exercise.
“It definitely has its physical benefits, it keeps you in shape keeps you limber,” said Veteran Dewayne Durham. “It definitely helps you with your mental health, with PTSD. It also helps you reconnect with the VA and keep up with our instructor.”
The classes are offered five days a week and can be done in group or individual settings as needed. The veterans make appointments for the classes and then the VA provides a link for them to login with.
“It can be one or it can be many,” Cox said. “What we do here is they call in for an appointment and we send them a link via their email. All they have to do log on to the email, log on to the link and that connects them to me.”
The schedule for the telehealth classes are as follows:
Yoga Flow – Monday at 11 AM
Yoga Gentle – Wednesday at 10 AM
Yoga Power – Friday at 12 PM
Tai Chi/Qigong – Monday at 10 AM, Tuesday at 3 PM, Thursday at 2:30 PM
Meditation – Monday at 12 PM and Tuesday at 3:30 PM
Guided Imagery – Thursday 1 PM
Acupressure – every 2nd and 4th Wednesday at 2 PM
Whole Health Coaching – Individual appointments available Monday-Friday 7 AM to 4 PM.
To set up an appointment call the Beckley VAMC at 304-255-2121 ext. 4668.
