By Jim Mosher
Friday May 25, 2007
WHEN WELLNESS WORKS: Wellness Institute sets bar for such centres.
DONNA DELAURIER
A wellness-fitness centre may be the ticket to rejuvenating the Winnipeg Beach Municipal Recreation Centre.
It’s a thought.
As a resident of Winnipeg Beach, I plan to present the outlines of the concept to a workshop this Saturday at the Hamilton Ave. rec centre. All are welcome to the session which starts at 10 a.m.
We can take a cue from the Wellness Institute at Seven Oaks General Hospital in Winnipeg. A cue but not the lead. There are critical differences between the wellness-fitness centre proposed here and the one operated as part of the full sweep of health services offered at the McPhillips St. hospital in Winnipeg’s Garden City.
There are parallels, though.
The Wellness Institute, opened in 1996, provides fitness services and professional health advice to 6,000 members, a third of whom have been referred because of chronic illness. However many take out memberships at the Wellness Institute because they recognize that their health is deteriorating, primarily due to lack of exercise and poor diet.
The sweep of programs offered by the Wellness Institute is impressive. (Check its web site -- and be prepared to be floored.)
The sweep of its impressive exercise area/walking track also impresses. At 80,000 sq. ft., it’s a huge area. It’s designed, though, so that there isn’t a noticeable collision of weight-lifting here, treadmills there.
Aside from individual cases that are still being closely monitored by doctors, there’s still plenty of room for a wellness-fitness centre in a growing rural town such as Winnipeg Beach.
“A lot of the things that are going on here could happen elsewhere,” Tobey Maloney, Wellness Institute communications specialist, said Tuesday.
Maloney notes that tai chi classes have “phenomenal” participation rates. And: “Yoga is exploding,” he said.
Both are low-impact activities that have acknowledged health benefits, particularly for older adults.
There’s a sweeping oval track for walking, jogging and running -- the last for the fittest few.
The entire area is lit during clear days by sunlight, cascading down from the roof. This design feature enhances the overall non-threatening feel of the place. It’s not a gym. It’s a social place as well as a fitness space.
Many members of the Wellness Institute are above the median age of the general population. The 2001 Census put 36.8 as the median age in Manitoba. By comparison, that census median age in Winnipeg Beach was 53, in Gimli 48.8 and in Dunnottar 54.3. One expects that witnessed population growth in the 2006 census in each of the three Lake Winnipeg beaches communities will continue that age-distribution trend. (The 2006 demographic trends will be available from Statistics Canada in July.)
The populations of the Beach, and neighbouring Dunnottar and Gimli are increasing at a rate that outstrips percentage growth in Manitoba. The growth is driven by retirees, though young families are also choosing the Lake Winnipeg communities.
Gimli introduced a fitness club about three years ago. Its membership is more than 240.
There’s plenty of room for a complementary facility in Winnipeg Beach. And we emphasize ‘complementary’ -- partly to suggest the Beach facility should not duplicate what Gimli has in its entirety, rather offer additional fitness services.
MORE SPECIFIC THOUGHTS
In no particular order of importance, I suggest the following as notes and some of the key elements of a plan to redesign the Beach rec centre building as a fitness-wellness centre for people of all ages.
1.) Existing 26-year-old building. Replacement value $4 million.
Challenge: Building has recently been subject to mold. It was closed briefly in the fall because it was deemed dangerous. It has since been remediated. It is, once again, open for bingo and was used as site of Election Day polls Tuesday.
Recommendation: The building looks like a municipal rec building. That suited its use. Now what’s needed is an open, welcoming facade and an interior that opens its spaces to light.
2.) Upper floor mezzanine area can be adapted as viewing area, cafe, evening entertainment venue.
Challenge: Extensive remodelling required. The institutional bathrooms in the upper floor area would have to be rethought.
The canteen in the upper floor area requires redesign to incorporate a sort of laidback café concept.
3.) Ice area will become open area for walking track and activity centres.
Challenge: Bleacher seating and hockey boards will have to be removed. Bleachers could be relocated to storage area for winter or to any of the half a dozen soccer pitches in town.
The boards can be stored until a site is found for a permanent winter-time outdoor rink.
4.) Dressing rooms: Walls have already been removed from one side of the basement dressing room area.
Challenge: Dressing rooms need to be redesigned to fit in with the overall open, welcoming theme of the fitness centre.
5.) Entrances: There is one public access to centre. There should be a ground-level entrance to fitness area; one with its own archway/vestibule.
Challenge: There’s little room on the west side of the building where this would probably be best located.
6.) Open concept: Borrowing heavily from the Wellness Institute and its open concept, skylights should be installed in the roof over the existing ice skating area.
Challenge: Cost of installation and additional heating cost. Heating costs may not rise if units are designed to energy-efficient standards.
7.) Most activity centres would have to be easily moved. A sort of tear-down put-up plan to move these ‘centres’ for unique, large events should be in place. Activity centres would include such things as weight sets, treadmills, badminton tables, lawn bowling greens.
Larger events could be volleyball, basketball games that require more space. (Though a small basketball area could be an activity centre, as well.)
8.) Partnerships should be explored with the Beach school, the Interlake Regional Health Authority, the Gimli Recreation Authority (Gimli Fitness Centre), neighbouring municipalities.
As well, we should access the brain trust of the community. The idea would be to welcome all
No comments:
Post a Comment