By Ed Karvoski Jr., Contributing Writer
Photo/Ed Karvoski Jr.
Shrewsbury/Westborough – Dr. Judy Eaton of Shrewsbury joined the Boroughs Family Branch YMCA in Westborough almost 10 years ago while preparing to semi-retire from her work as a psychiatrist. Now, she’s fully retired and volunteers for causes including the LIVESTRONG® program for cancer survivors and caregivers at the Boroughs Y.
“I was just about to retire and decided for the first time in my life to do some exercising; that’s why I originally joined,” she recalled. “Soon thereafter I realized this is a good place for volunteering when I do totally retire.”
Eaton received the Adult Volunteer of the Year Award at the 151st annual meeting of the YMCA of Central Massachusetts, held April 29 at the Boroughs Y.
She had previously received the same award in 2010 for volunteering with older active adult members. At the time, she helped with administrative work, field trips and organizing a senior health fair. She also made phone calls to members who typically attended the Y regularly, but became inactive.
“Anyone who wasn’t there, I’d call to see how they were doing,” she explained. “If they or their spouse was sick, I’d keep calling them for a while.”
More recently, Eaton has been focusing her volunteer time on LIVESTRONG, for which she received her second Adult Volunteer of the Year Award.
Launched nationally in 2008, LIVESTRONG at the YMCA began at the Boroughs Y in 2013. The free, 12-week program for cancer survivors and caregivers helps participants strengthen their bodies and minds. Eaton offered to help the program’s local coordinator, Christine Salovardos.
“The minute I heard about the LIVESTRONG program I kept pestering Christine, letting her know I wanted to be a part of it,” Eaton said. “I thought this would be perfect with my medical background, as well as just loving the Y.”
Eaton does the intakes for new program participants. She also gives them a tour, familiarizing them with the facility and its workout equipment.
“The most rewarding thing is meeting all these brave people who are surviving cancer and wanting to go on with their lives,” she said. “Once they finish treatment, most of them are cured or at least in remission, but their lives are not back to what they would like. They’ve been sick and they’re weak; they can’t do the things they used to do. Now, they’re no longer in a facility where people are all sick; they’re in a facility where people are well and they go in there for wellness. I admire anyone with a cancer diagnosis for doing that.”
She appreciates observing the participants’ progress from their intakes through the program’s graduation ceremony.
“One of the biggest benefits is not so much how many times they can do the treadmill or lift so many weights, but the fact that they’re with other survivors,” she said. “The group of six people become very tight. Just being with people who really understand what that feels like is one of the best parts of the program.”
Eaton hadn’t volunteered or exercised while working full time, she acknowledged. Now, she volunteers regularly at the Shrewsbury Senior Center for its Meals on Wheels program and assists nurses at Planned Parenthood. She’s also working out as a Boroughs Y member, particularly in Zumba classes.
“Most people in their right minds started exercising long before I did; but if you haven’t, you should go to the Y because there’s a program for everybody,” she advised. “It’s important to either keep doing what you had been doing or do new things. Take courses or whatever. Retirement is not the end of the world.”
