THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606150321
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAT DOOLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 78 lines
The Indian River Family YMCA unveils a $150,000 expansion today, featuring a supervised fitness program for people with chronic illnesses.
The program is a first for YMCAs in Hampton Roads. It offers people with medical conditions - such as diabetes, heart disease, high-blood pressure, obesity and arthritis - medically managed, individualized fitness training in a health club setting, rather than a medical environment.
It results from a partnership between the YMCA of South Hampton Roads and Tidewater Health Care, which owns Virginia Beach General Hospital.
Participants, who must consult with a doctor, will be supervised by exercise physiologists from Tidewater Health Care, who have offices at the YMCA.
The program will emphasize aerobic conditioning, resistance training, aqua therapy and indoor walking, said Allen Bostian, director of health and fitness for Tidewater Health Care and an exercise physiologist who works with patients.
Although some participants may have been hospitalized for a medical condition, such as heart attack, the program focuses on prevention or slowing of disease.
Medically managed programs are common in YMCAs in other parts of the country, particularly on the West Coast, said Bostian. ``We're cutting edge on the East Coast.''
Patients with chronic medical problems usually get supervised workouts at hospital rehab centers or separate facilities geared specifically for them.
In this case, the program's participants won't be so isolated. They'll be monitored by the physiologists, but they'll exercise in a community setting - alongside YMCA members.
The YMCA hopes the program's participants will like the setting so much they'll sign up for YMCA memberships after completing their medically managed training.
And Tidewater Health Care hopes its foray into mainstreaming patients into a community-based YMCA will make its program more appealing to physicians and their patients, Bostian said.
Some people with chronic conditions join gyms, city recreation centers and mall walking clubs on their own, Bostian said. But for some patients, he said, ``there's a lot of start and stop,'' because they may not get supervision and encouragement.
Tidewater Health Care has operated a medically managed fitness program for eight years. It started in a small room at Virginia Beach General Hospital and was relocated in 1990 to Great Neck Square in Virginia Beach. About 500 people are enrolled at that center, which will remain open.
In a medically managed program, an ``exercise prescription'' is developed for each participant, in consultation with a physician, Bostian said. The prescription is based on medical history; height, weight and body fat; heart rate; blood pressure and cholesterol levels; and nutritional needs.
Most people participate in medically managed fitness for up to three months, Bostian said. The program costs $90 for the first month with orientation, then $40 a month.
Even though this type of program isn't covered by insurance, it is growing more popular, Bostian said. ``More patients are taking responsibility for their health care.''
The YMCA may add such programs to the other seven YMCAs in South Hampton Roads, YMCA vice president Billy George said. ``We don't have any concrete plans, but we would love to duplicate what we're doing here.''
The Indian River Y has expanded to include 5,000-square-feet on the second floor.
It has an enlarged aerobics and cardio fitness room; a family center for children 6 to 14; a section for before- and after-school; and more weight-lifting and aerobics machines. The cardio room also features five televisions connected to headsets that let exercisers tune into a program while tuning out sounds around them.
Also available at the Y are an indoor swimming pool, racquetball courts and child care. ILLUSTRATION: DETAILS
Indian River Family YMCA, 5660 Indian River Road, in the College
Shoppes, will hold an open house from noon to 4 p.m. today.
Staff from the YMCA and Tidewater Health Care's medically managed
fitness program will be available.
For details, call the Indian River YMCA at 366-0488. by CNB