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Medically Based Fitness Centers Pump Up Customers: Boomers Want to be Healthy in Retirement
By Brie Zeltner, New Orleans Times-Picayune
March 23, 2008
It's a place where thousands of community members come together, take classes, arrange trips, have a bite to eat and focus on improving their lives.
They have been compared to old-fashioned town halls, and if it weren't for all the elliptical machines and Nautilus equipment, you probably could see why.
Medically based fitness and wellness centers have cropped up everywhere over the past several years. They range from loose affiliations between hospitals and local recreation centers, to rehabilitation centers where patients can continue to use the facilities at low cost, to full-service free-standing monuments of fitness that compete with, and can cost more than, most health clubs.
The increasing popularity of these centers mirrors a national trend toward an appreciation of the wellness concept, that prevention is indeed the best possible medicine. There are now more than 800 fitness centers affiliated with hospitals in the country, according to the Medical Fitness Association, a nonprofit whose board of doctors reviews the centers and offers advice.
The demand for medically based fitness centers has come largely from baby boomers, who want to remain healthy into their retirement years and are willing to pay for the extra services these centers offer.
The boomers who frequent these often huge, all-inclusive health meccas seem to have wholeheartedly embraced the wellness concept, which is what hospital administrators had hoped for. That, and a little brand loyalty, of course.
No waiting for machines
At the Summa Wellness Institute in Hudson, Ohio, it's all about the experience. Membership is kept low so no one gets stressed out about waiting in line for an elliptical machine, said Sandy Kieffer-Takacs.
"(Members) could literally spend a day here," she said. "We want them to come here and feel like exercising is not a chore and something awful -- we want it to be a place you go and want to linger awhile."
It's hard to linger if you're worried about your kids or finding a baby sitter, so the institute partnered with the local school system to offer child care for a fee. After your workout, you can enjoy a full line of spa treatments including massage, facials and body wraps at The Falling Waters Spa. The spa is also open to the public.
While the overarching goal of these centers may be happier, healthier members, an equally important goal for many hospitals is getting those members to associate their newfound wellness with the hospital system that helped them get there.
The goal is to provide health center patrons with a great experience that translates into faith that they'd have a great experience if treated at Southwest General, said Karen Raisch-Seigel, executive director of LifeWorks of Southwest General.
When Ohio's Elyria Memorial Hospital opened its Center for Health and Fitness in 1999, Avon was the chosen site because of the population boom in the area and the desire to expand the reach of the hospital system east.
The EMH brand is everywhere at the center, on the sign as you pull in the parking lot, on banners in the entryway, and on fliers and pamphlets advertising the hospital's programs scattered throughout the building.
"Hopefully it would trickle down," said Jan Biedenbach, member services manager at the center. "If someone had an injury and came here for therapy or just came here to work out, and then they decide, 'Wow, I really want to continue working out and had such great care,' and then they're looking for a doctor that would be with our system here."
The centers also fit nicely into many hospitals' expanding employee health and wellness plans. Many center offer a significant discount to employees.
Almost half of the 800 members at Community Health Partners Wellness and Fitness Center in Lorain, Ohio, are employees. Because the fitness center is attached to the hospital, many doctors and nurses pop in for a short workout between patients, said Valerie Henry, wellness and fitness coordinator.
"We have people in lab or surgery who can't get away for long periods, who can't take a full hour at once," she said. Offering those employees access to the fitness center for $10 a month makes sense from a wellness perspective, she said.
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