Summit Wellness Center expands medical campus in Wheatfield

Fitness center emphasizes customer services

by Larry Austin
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, April 15, 2004

State and county politicians joined representatives of Calamar to cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the Summit Wellness Center on April 7. Cutting the ceremonial ribbon (left to right) are Tricia Cwiklinski, Calamar representative; Gail Vizzi, Summit Wellness Center director; John Petrozzi II, Town of Wheatfield IDA board member; Kenneth Franasiak, Calamar president; state Sen. George Maziarz; William Ross, Niagara County Legislature chairman; and Valerie Pillo, representing state Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte. (photo by Larry Kensinger)

The grand opening of the Summit Wellness Center on Williams Road heralds another step toward the creation of a one-stop health care campus in the town of Wheatfield.

The center is a $4.5 million, 42,000-square-foot, expansion to the Summit Healthplex by Calamar, a Wheatfield-based developer. In all, the campus is a $15 million investment by Calamar.

State Sen. George Maziarz, chairman of the Niagara County Legislature William Ross, and a representative of state Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte and U.S. Thomas Reynolds were on hand at a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 7.

Calamar and Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center began a partnership in 2000, Calamar President Kenneth Franasiak said, to expand the health care system in Niagara County, and the medical campus on Williams Road is the result. Coupling the Summit Healthplex with a wellness center next door, "will create a dominant health care facility in this marketplace," Franasiak said, and will be "a step towards establishing the Summit Park Medical Campus as the largest medical campus in Western New York state."

Thus far, Calamar has developed 112,000 square-feet along the Williams Road corridor across from the Summit Park Mall. Designed by Karl Frizlen, the wellness facility will "create and retain health care jobs in the town of Wheatfield and Western New York," Franasiak said. "It's going to expand Wheatfield's tax base, and strengthen Niagara County's health care system."

Great Example Of Economic Development

"This is another great example of economic development," Ross said of the expansion. "Yes, it's a recreational facility for wellness, rehabilitation for some people, but also it's giving jobs to people, and that is deeply appreciated."

The Niagara County Industrial Development Agency was instrumental in making the project possible, Franasiak noted.

According to Calamar, the healthplex houses 20 specialty physicians. In one facility, consumers can have diagnostic services done, including CAT scans and MRIs.

"We have all the specialists ranging from dentistry all the way up to general practitioners, chiropractic, physical therapy, occupational therapy," Franasiak said. "In addition to that, you start moving to the wellness component. Couple that all together, and you have really a seamless health care delivery system, and that's what the goal of the project was from day one."

Fitness Center As Anchor Tenant

Gail Vizzi is the owner, manager, and operator of the Summit Fitness Center, the facility's anchor tenant. The wellness facility will provide community education, a fitness center, and organized sports medicine.

The fitness center has already experienced some successes, Maziarz said. He recalled meeting a woman at the senior citizens center in North Tonawanda.

"And she was walking with not one, but two canes," Maziarz said. When she said she needed to get some exercise, Maziarz said he suggested the Summit facility to her.
"And ironically enough, as luck would have it, as I was walking in here today, she was walking out," he said during the grand opening. "She came up to me and said, 'Look, I'm walking now without the assistance of a cane.' And she said, 'That's possible because of the work that they did for me here.' She comes at least three times a week, and she just feels really good about herself and the fact that she is a lot freer today because she doesn't need the canes to walk. So you've already done your job, Gail."

Summit Fitness' cardiovascular room and workout center has 17 stationary bikes in a spinning classroom, 15 treadmills, 20 elliptical machines, seven stair climbers, and six rowing machines. Also included in the expansion are a café, a day spa, and a pool with hydrofit classes for those with arthritis or back problems.

Small World Too Child Care also operates in the facility and has two infant rooms, a kindergarten prep room, and a toddler room.

A chiropractic office is on the drawing board.

Four Initial Training Sessions

Rocco Guadagna, assistant sales manager at Summit Fitness, said new members receive four separate initial training sessions of a half hour each.

The first is called a profile appointment to go over a new member's measurements in height, weight, body fat, heart rate and blood pressure.

The second appointment covers cardiovascular equipment, taking into account an exerciser's restrictions and limitations, such as back or knee problems.

The third appointment covers upper body resistance training, and the fourth appointment covers lower body weight training. In the latter two appointments, exercisers are set up on different machines and shown proper lifting techniques.

"They want you to become a long-term member, and the only way to really do that is by showing you how to work out so you can become an independent exerciser over the course of two years," Guadagna said. "They don't just take your money and say, 'Oh, thank you for signing up. See you later.' There is a lot more involved to a membership. Customer service is high here."