| |
||
| |
|
|
| |
||
 |
 |
|||
| • In Our Papers • About Us • Links • Advertising • |  |
|||
Medically Oriented Gym scheduled to open new facility this month by Karen
Keefe
There’s a new kind of health club coming to Grand Island later this month. It’s not designed to produce “beautiful bodies and big-time weight-lifters,” according to founder and physical therapist Russell Certo. The real reason for the establishment of the MOG, or Medically Oriented Gym, is to put the “health” back into “health club.” Filling a void “The new fitness and health club will fill a void that this town has had forever,” Certo said. The facility is planned to open later this month in a new, 12,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art building at 1801 Grand Island Blvd. The goal is to sign 800 people up as members. Certo’s inspiration for the facility is the amazing recovery of his brother, Tom, from leukemia. A combination of therapy and a carefully planned exercise program brought his brother back to strength and health. Making exercise a lifelong habit The MOG bases all of its services on medically acceptable research and protocols established through Certo’s Grand Island Physical Therapy PC at 1282 Stony Point Road. “Our expectation is to cultivate an environment that makes your exercise a lifelong habit,” according to the MOG’s brochure. The health club will be open to the general public, not just to patients of the physical therapy practice. The goal is a fitness experience that lowers the risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. The exercise programs can be easily coordinated with the member’s primary care physician, Certo said. In business since 1988 Certo has operated his physical therapy business on Grand Island since 1988. He had heard about similar gyms at conferences he attended, but none was quite like what he started thinking about two years ago. Providing needed service He and his staff noticed that “of all the patients we saw in a year, all of them need to continue an exercise program, just because it’s the philosophy of our practice to engage in a healthy lifestyle.” He said that about a third of the patients in his practice, “because of health insurance policy, because of the patient’s timeframes, they can’t continue with us, and they need to continue rehabilitating whatever it was we were seeing them for – their back, their knee, their shoulder.” Traditionally, Certo and his staff would encourage the patients and make arrangements for them to join a health club, “whether it was the Aquatic Center in Tonawanda, Holiday Inn’s fitness center, Bally’s, the B.A.C., whatever one was convenient for them,” he said. “After a while, I felt like I was passing off some responsibility that we could be taking care of,” Certo said. “It just made sense for us to develop a health club/fitness club, but still utilize the same philosophy within this health club that we do in our (current) gym.” He said that is to offer an over-the-top level of service. “If we serve them right and give them what they want, and treat them the way they should be treated, we won’t have to worry about retention and memberships, and special deals and things that other health clubs have to do” to retain their members, he said. Services under one roof Certo plans to move his physical therapy business into the MOG facility at a later date. He has added 10 to the staff so far. “We’re taking two separate entities and melding them together,” he said. “The beauty is, the two companies have the ability, when necessary, to work together.” But he stresses, “You don’t have to go through the therapy door” to become a member of the MOG. He said people who come in solely for the health club “always have our expertise and can always approach the therapy staff with questions, problems and concerns.” Athletic trainer is director The director of the MOG is Chris Pepper, an athletic trainer who currently is employed at Grand Island Physical Therapy and works as a trainer at the high school, as well. He ran a fitness club in Florida, was a trainer for an indoor lacrosse team and was head trainer for the Destroyers football team. Pepper’s assistant is a Grand Island resident who is an instructor for the Prism network, which provides aerobic and exercise classes to the Buffalo Cardiology Group. Prism classes also will be offered at the MOG in a partnership arrangement. Certo said Independent Health and Community Blue both have coverage that includes health-related exercise programs. From therapy to Tai Chi The services at the MOG will include personal training, fitness evaluations, exercise programs, physical therapy, massage therapy and nutrition counseling. Classes will include yoga, Pilates, aerobics, Senior Stretch, Fit Kids and Tai Chi. Equipment ranges from treadmills and bikes to weight machines and a free weight room. Grand Island Dance & Fitness Center will be moving classes to the MOG facility. Certo also hopes to bring a family practice or general practice physician under the MOG roof. Open house scheduled Over the next two weekends, the public
is invited to stop in, tour the facility and meet some of
the staff. An open house is scheduled Saturday and Sunday
from 1 to 5 p.m. More information, including membership fees,
can be found at GIMOG.com. |
|
|
