At the next installment of the spring edition of the Academia Hernando community learning series, folks will be encouraged to “Get Up and Move” for the cause of Tai Chi and Diabetes empowerment. This special session is set to be presented by Laura Gamba on Friday, January 27, at 10 am at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. The themes of healthful empowerment and divine peace of mind will be discussed at this session, which focuses in particular on Diabetes empowerment education. Participants will be connecting the Diabetes-dots with hands-on interactive activities and hands-on learning.
“‘Get Up and Move’ will focus on mitigating falls, improving balance and managing diabetes through interactive exercising using Tai Chi and moving for better balance exercise,” read an event notice.
Academia Hernando is a not-for-profit lifelong learning organization providing quality instruction and learning experiences for adult students throughout Hernando County, and beyond. Their goal is to inform, educate and inspire adult learners through a series of weekly lectures on a wide variety of topics.
Presenter Laura Gamba has amassed more than 16-years of experience with the Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG), the Medicare Quality Innovation Network – Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) for Florida, Arizona, California, Ohio and the US Virgin Islands, spanning four scopes of work and five innovation projects with the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). She served as the Diabetes Task Chair for the CMS diabetes contract and director for the Florida program. Laura is a certified Master Senior Trainer for the University of Illinois Chicago’s Diabetes Empowerment Education ProgramTM (DEEP™) and has trained senior trainers, lead trainers and peer educators throughout the United states and 500 community participants throughout Florida. She directed a CMS chronic kidney disease (CKD) project, developed beneficiary education through 30, Florida, outreach campaigns, spearheaded a national quality improvement effort to advance call center CMS customer service, and executed weight loss and diabetes self-management programs in African American, Hispanic, rural and low, socio-economic communities, She has worked with Florida’s Departments of Education, Health, Children & Families, Vocational Rehabilitation and Health and Rehabilitation Services. She is a graduate of the University of Florida, served in the U.S. Peace Corps, is a certified Behavior Analyst, and a Lay Leader/Coach in the Matter of Balance fall prevention program, Tai Chi for Arthritis and Tai Ji Quan Moving for Better Balance programs and DEEP™ diabetes classes through Elder Options, the Mid-Florida Area Agency on Aging.
Laura Gamba shared, “Basically, the presentation is infotainment teaming up with exercise for fall mitigation and diabetes management. Experiential, learning and participant engagement are interwoven into the presentation to maximize fun and learning.”
Sharon Printz, board member of Academia Hernando, looks forward to welcoming this presenter to the Academia Hernando stage. She stated, “Laura Gamba is a very eloquent speaker. She gets people up and moving!” Academia Hernando presentations begin promptly at 10 am and last two hours with a 15-minute intermission. The spring series continues via presentations of “The Great 60s Sitcoms” by Jason Fortner on Feb. 3, “They Created What?” presented by Sheryl Long on Feb. 10, “The Crisis in Ukraine” presented by Damien Austinon Feb. 17, “Spies, Lies and Betrayal” on Feb. 24, presented by Col. Mike Pheneger and finally, “Simon & Garfunkel, Bruce Gobioff” presented on March 3.
To register for the entire lecture series in addition to an excursion that will take guests to Chinsegut Hill, print the registration form found at https://www.academiahernando.org/fall-series and mail with your check for $80 payable to Academia Hernando, Inc. and mail to:
Bev Nuzzi
15027 Middle Fairway Drive
Brooksville, FL 34609
Checks also can be brought to an Academia Hernando presentation; in addition, walkin admissions are available at $15 per presentation. Visit https://www.academiahernando.org/ for more information or call (352) 345-8345.
