FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Area military spouses will have an opportunity to learn about health and exercise programs offered at Fort Carson at the third annual Spouse Wellness Conference, Sept. 17.
"The whole idea about participating in the programs is that it's a 45-minute class, so it gives (spouses) an indication as to whether or not they'd like to pursue it. Or, if it's not for them, they can go on to something else," said Kristen Kea, Army Community Service Warrior Family Community Partnership manager.
"It exposes them to a lot of different programs that they might not have wanted to either invest the money, invest the time, in, because they didn't exactly know what it was all about."
The conference offers a total of 35 classes ranging from physical fitness to nutrition and Love Languages to thinking optimistically. Participants can learn to rock climb, play disc golf, weight train, cycle and even kayak in the pool at Iron Horse Sports and Fitness Center. Participants will also be able to ride mountain bikes on some of the trails on post.
"If you were to do this on the local economy, you would pay a couple hundred dollars to be able to participate in some of those things," Kea said.
Check-in for the conference begins at 8 a.m. in the Special Events Center, with remarks from Commanding General Maj. Gen. Paul J. LaCamera, 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson, at 8:30 a.m.
Author Polly Letofsky will deliver the keynote address at 9 a.m. Letofksy's book, "3MPH: The Adventure of One Woman's Walk Around the World," tells the story of her journey on foot from her home in Vail, Colo., across four continents and 22 countries. The author will talk about setting incremental goals to reach big feats.
"I think that's an important message for all spouses, whether it's your personal well-being or your Family well-being," said Kea. "How do you set some immediate, midterm and long-term goals to get to where you want to be?"
Classes begin at 10:15 a.m. at various locations around the Fort Carson Resiliency Campus and the SEC with lunch served at noon at the campus water feature. More class sessions take place after lunch, with the conference wrapping up at 3 p.m.
Throughout the day, representatives from Evans Army Community Hospital will conduct a health fair and health screenings at the SEC and will have three physicians available to answer questions. Various clinics from the hospital will be represented and will be able to log in to participants' health records to determine if they're due for particular health screenings, some of which they'll be able to conduct on the spot.
"It's a great opportunity to take advantage of that," Kea said.
She said last year 12 people were identified as needing follow-up care after a free health screening at the conference.
"For a lot of spouses, if they take the day off work to attend this or they take the day off of whatever they're doing, they can check off some things. Hopefully we've made it convenient for them to do that," Kea said.
Limited free child care is available at the Ivy Child Development Center. Participants can contact Child, Youth and School Services to arrange child care, and children must be registered with CYSS to use the service.
The Spouse Wellness Conference is made possible through the participation of Evans Army Community Hospital; the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation; the Army Wellness Center; Sustainable Fort Carson; and the Religious Support Office.
It is open to any military spouse, active, retired, National Guard or Reserve.
In the event of a welcome home ceremony taking place on the day of the conference, registrants should visit the conference website or call 526-2463 to find information about changes in venue.
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