Therapy & regular activity help resident Jim Bergman regain mobility—and his dancing shoes.
When Renaissance by Rennes resident Jim Bergman suffered complications from polyneuropathy, which causes malfunction of nerves in the legs that leads to muscle weakness, he wasn’t about to let it continue to slow him down.
“I could walk maybe forty feet at the time,” says Jim, who then started working with Rennes Health & Rehab Center physical therapists to restore his strength. “Within six or seven weeks, I went from almost nothing to dancing.”
Jim worked with a physical therapy team led by Kelly DePas to regain mobility and balance, and also continued attending three-times-weekly Music and Movement fitness classes hosted by Activity Director Lisa Perrizo.
“Upon evaluation, I found that his quadriceps muscles were weak (the upper thigh muscles) and that was not due to the neuropathies. Jim was so excited to hear he had potential to improve. From the first appointment, he followed all our therapy advise. When his walking improved enough that he could walk throughout the assisted living vs using his electric wheelchair, he voiced interest in dancing,” shared DePas. Physical therapy swiftly got to work on higher level dynamic balance and even waltzed with him in his room as therapy.
“I think the staff is just the best, the way they presented the exercises were in such a way that you felt as though you really wanted to do it,” Jim said. “The knowledge of the therapists and the way they projected what they would like you to do, was just great.”
Therapy and activities – the perfect plan
Jim a former metering electrician for WPS, used to enjoy polka dancing with his wife Nancy during parish dances. “Now, polkas are out for me—I can only do waltzes.”
For his therapy, “once or twice a week, they gave me things to do, and I would have to do them if you want to get stronger,” Jim said. “I was very faithful, and by golly, I got strong as I could be. I could take my cane, park my car by Walmart and walk into Walmart, and do stuff like that. I drive my own car, and I’m 90.”
Jim is a popular resident and is very active at Renaissance, baking bran muffins, homemade breads and pumpkin pies in his room and he visits local stores with a scooter.
Jim, a longtime resident of De Pere, raised five children in the area with his wife, Nancy. After she suffered two strokes and was recovering at Rennes, “I would visit every day,” Jim said. “I came out of the house one day and fell down in the garage and broke my hip. So, both of us were in Rennes at the same time.”
But Jim received a new hip and two weeks later went home. “I was a fast healer.” But Nancy couldn’t return home with Jim, and in December 2018 he moved to an apartment at Renaissance where Nancy was able to move with him until she passed away in 2021.
Music and movement
Jim, who always enjoyed dancing, said he wasn’t very agile when he first started dancing with Lisa Perizzo. With continual work through his targeted physical therapy program with Kelly, he improved. “To see what we could do after six weeks of therapy—that was all from the pure desire of wanting to do it.”
During that time Jim also continued with the Music and Movement program, which involves different types of exercise on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Lisa said.
“We may do light weights two or three days per week for core strengthening, or it may be a coordination exercise,” Lisa said. That might involve using foam noodles to bat balloons. On Fridays the class does Zumba. “Jim is a part of this program, and he comes for every session—he’s very disciplined.”
Usually more than half of the residents participate in the popular program, which performs all of its activities from a seated position and with the guidance of physical therapists. “I make sure anything I incorporate for residents is OK for them—the mechanics of it, working all areas of the body,” Lisa said. “We mainly work on strengthening core muscles, which are so important for mobility.”
Shining those dancing shoes
During Renaissance Happy Hours on Fridays, Lisa would raise her thumb up at Jim when a song like the Kentucky waltz would come on, and they’d cut a rug, sometimes with Jim donning a crown (“King James/King of Hearts”).
For the New Year’s Eve event, residents and staff dressed up and served champagne, and a musical group performed romantic music from the 1940s. During that special event, Jim had a chance to waltz with Lisa, who was dressed up in a formal black dress. “It was a wild one, with a full house and family fun,” Jim said. “It was just wonderful.”
Jim recently took a pause from dancing as he developed some additional health issues, but will build his strength back up, beginning with work on a stationary bike. “When I can walk a little bit, I’ll do it, then when I feel as though I am becoming a little bit stronger, I’ll continue with more therapy and exercises.”
That’s the key to keeping and restoring mobility—to keep on moving, because movement creates movement, Lisa said.
“Jim is an inspiration to us all that despite our challenges, never stop trying. Be the best version of yourself at all stages of life!” said DePas.
“I just kept saying to Jim, look at all your hard work,” she said. “I’ve used him as an example to others. I say, ‘Look how far Jim has come—you could do it, too.”
