Grouper Newsroom
What people are saying about us and our social fitness movement.
Grouper in the News
Doug Wenners
For decades, the health care system has embraced the philosophy of “manage what you measure.” Hospitals and health plans measure hospital admissions and length of stay. The public health community measures the rate of premature deaths, cancer rates and opioid overdoses. Though useful for planning, none of these measures actually offers a blueprint for health improvement….
Doug Wenners
Last week, I accompanied a close friend to his first chemotherapy appointment to treat a recently diagnosed cancer. As he met with the doctor, I sat in the waiting room and watched as a stream of patients walked to the registration desk. Many of them had something in common: they were accompanied by a friend or family member. The rest came alone. Sitting in the waiting room brought back memories from 30 years ago…
Doug Wenners
The man was surrounded by walls of garbage.
Bags and bags of trash filled the living room of one of the newest patients of the home-based medical practice I founded in 2019. It lined the walls of every room, creating a hulking, plastic forest of rot. The nurse practitioner who first visited this patient had assumed he was a hoarder. But the patient soon explained that he did not want to live among all this waste…
Grouper Press Releases
PR Newswire
Element3 Health, the national leader in group activity management and benefit administration, has changed its name to Grouper. The change reflects the company’s deep commitment to improving health, happiness and longevity through group activities and the social connections they create…
Social Fitness Content
AMA
In an increasingly connected world, a paradoxical crisis is silently gripping communities: social isolation. And it is casting a long shadow over public health, from older adults grappling with seclusion to the unexpected repercussions for younger generations…
CNN
If you’re visiting with loved ones this holiday season, a new study suggests you make that a habit on a regular basis, if you haven’t already. Those who don’t socialize with friends or family may see their risk of dying early increase by 39%…
Science Focus
Dr Gillian Sandstrom was at the opera when she realised how good she had become at talking to strangers. A woman with Parkinson’s was feeling anxious and needed an aisle seat when Sandstrom noticed…
Member's Corner
Spencer Morgan
As darkness fell on Dec. 30, 2008, Dave and Joan Brown stood overlooking the Chesapeake Bay, their eyes fixed on a lighthouse. For Joan, it was a moment of triumph, having finally completed the American Volkssport Association’s “Lighthouse, USA” special program – a challenge to complete 12 sanctioned walks with a lighthouse before midnight Jan. 1, 2009…
Grouper
Ruth Kennedy had some scraps of fabric leftover from making clothes over the years for her family. Living now in a town far from the one she had called home, Kennedy decided to visit a local quilt shop to see what she could piece together from her collection. What she found there was so much more than she could have imagined…
Linda Jacobsen
I’m 70, and my social life has been brimming with fun, wonderful friendships and exciting activities ever since I joined my pickleball club. My physical health has improved greatly, from weight loss to lower blood pressure and better blood test results. My emotional health is excellent due to having so many exceptional friends…
Other Related News
A Film by Robert D. Putnam
Join or Die is a film about why you should join a club — and why the fate of America may depend on it. In this feature documentary, follow the half-century story of America’s civic unraveling through the journey of legendary social scientist Robert Putnam, whose groundbreaking “Bowling Alone” research into America’s decades-long decline in community connections could hold the answers to our democracy’s present crisis.