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Meet Nicole Mason

Say hi to Nicole Mason, Fitness Manager at ProMedica ForeverFit. Check out Nicole’s great advice for those just coming into the medical fitness industry (and even for those who have been here a while)!

We caught up with Nicole recently and here’s what she had to say!

Meet Karen Santini

Say hi to Karen Santini, Fitness & Wellness Manager at The Atlantic Club. Read about Karen’s inspiring journey to medical fitness and check out her great advice for those just coming into the medical fitness industry!

We caught up with Karen recently and here’s what she had to say!

Meet John Briley

Say hi to John Briley, Supervisor of Exercise Programs at ECU. Read about how John and his team help out a local food bank and check out his great advice for those just coming into the medical fitness industry!

We caught up with John recently and here’s what he had to say!

Meet Garren Harter

Say hi to Garren Harter, General Manager at the Hancock Wellness Center-Greenfield. Enjoy his inspiring story…but don’t miss the incredible video of Garren working out with his (very) young son!!

We caught up with Garren recently and here’s what he had to say!

MFA Names David Flench CEO & President!

Medical Fitness Association Names New President and CEO

June 22, 2021–Pinehurst, NC: The Medical Fitness Association is proud to announce that David Flench, MBA, FACHE, FMFA is the Association’s new President and CEO. The Medical Fitness Association (MFA) is a professional membership organization that was formed in 1991 to assist medically integrated health and fitness centers achieve their full potential.

Flench brings over 20 years of management experience in medical fitness facilities. He received his BS in Exercise Science from The Ohio State University and his MBA from Franklin University. He has served on the MFA Board of Directors and various MFA committees for the past 15 years. Flench is also a Fellow of MFA and the American College of Healthcare Executives.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, the Executive Board is thrilled to officially welcome David to the helm,” said Jennifer Lavoie, MFA Board member and Director of Employee Wellbeing at Piedmont Healthcare. “David holds a special place as being the first CEO who has lived his career by the programs, certifications, and resources of the Medical Fitness Association.  David understands where the Association comes from and where it needs to go. We recognize this is a critical time for our industry and Association and there is no one better to lead the way.”

As President and CEO, Flench will work closely with MFA’s membership, Industry Partners and Strategic Partners to grow and strengthen the organization. “I am honored to lead the Association that I have been part of for the past 20 years,” said Flench. “I have experienced the positive impact of the education, networking and certifications offered by MFA throughout my career. Now, I am energized to take the organization to the next level. The awareness of the benefits and importance of medical fitness has grown in the past year. We have seen many fitness facilities around the country looking to expand their wellness offerings by bringing medical fitness to their members. The Medical Fitness Association is at a pivotal time in its history to be a leading resource for the medical fitness industry.” Flench has been serving as the Interim President and CEO since the retirement of Bob Boone, the Association’s past President and CEO.

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About the Medical Fitness Association
The Medical Fitness Association (MFA) is a non-profit, 501(c)(6), professional membership organization whose mission is to foster opportunities for the development and operational success of medically integrated fitness centers. MFA advocates for the industry, provides industry standards, educational programs, benchmarks, outcome measurements, professional development, and networking opportunities for the medical fitness industry.

OLC Celebrates its 60th Anniversary!

By Stuart Ohlson and Hervey Lavoie, founders of OLC

On June 15, 1961, mere years after growing up and playing on a dirt road called Colorado Boulevard, Stuart Ohlson hung up his shingle and started Stuart Ohlson and Associates. Working from an office he designed just across the street from East High School, he and his staff were soon busy with a series of residential and commercial commissions.

“All of a sudden, you’re in business, whether you know it or not!,” says Stuart Ohlson, reminiscing about those early days.

Today, that firm has grown and has become what is now called OLC | Ohlson Lavoie Corporation. Celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year, OLC is an architecture, interiors and aquatics four-office firm based in Denver with offices in Orlando, Cairo, and Tokyo. OLC now specializes in recreation, health & wellness, hospitality and aquatic projects. Over the course of those 60 years, OLC has helped change the skyline of Denver, influenced how we exercise, and has changed the lives of its employees, business associates, clients and those who live, work and play in its buildings.

In 1974, Hervey Lavoie joined Stuart, eventually becoming a co-owner in the firm renamed Ohlson Lavoie Corporation. Hervey, a recent architectural school graduate was now in his element. “I saw my new parish church being built as a 15-year-old and thought I could do that and enjoy doing that,” recalls Hervey as to why he became an architect.

A Focus on Recreation 

Early on, Stuart and Hervey managed a small group of staff whose focus was on designing buildings to suit their client’s needs. Commissions came through developing existing relationships, such as those made at Stuart’s standing tennis matches at 3 p.m. on Thursdays. Amazingly, despite the oil crisis of the 70s and early 80s that hit Denver hard, this small firm was designing big, high-rise projects. These included Park Place and Country Club towers near Speer Blvd, several residential towers off of Cheesman Park, and a half-dozen high-rises for the Writer Family at the intersection of I-25 & Colorado Blvd, five of which are still standing. OLC was a small firm with big project credibility. One of those late tennis sessions led to OLC designing its first, standalone, multi-purpose health club, now known as the Colorado Athletic Club–Inverness.

Out of the success and the relationships established with that project, OLC dove right into the fitness and recreation industry. With Hervey leading the charge, the firm has since become a specialist and expert in the fitness and recreation field. He and others have authored articles on specialized design for organizations such as IHRSA, NIRSA, the Medical Fitness Association and parks and recreation departments. OLC staff attend and regularly speak as design specialists at industry conventions and seminars.

A big change came out of that industry focus—travel. Prior to 1984, OLC had never had a design assignment of any kind outside the state of Colorado. Fortuitously, during this time, work out of state helped OLC bridge the periodic economic slowdowns that plagued Denver through the 70s and 80s, (The AIA slogan for 1975 was “stay alive in seventy-five!”). It seemed that there was always a hot development zone in some part of the country…and where the economy was hot, clubs were being built: Dallas in the early 80s; Washington, DC in the mid-80s; Atlanta in the late 80s. In 1988 OLC began traveling to and working in Japan, which became a major source of work during some lean times in the U.S. OLC’s specialized design focus thus meant a steady source of business, but also travel and lots of it.

Adapting to New Technologies

Another big change in those 60 years has been the technology employed by architects. Although every architect was expected to know the basics of hand drafting up through the early 80s, techniques and methods for architects changed drastically and seemingly overnight.

“I remember getting our first handheld calculator in 1974. Our first in-house copy machine came soon after. Then came a fax machine, a multi-line phone, a voice message system, Kroy machine, and Letraset” says Hervey of some the early technology changes. “By the mid to late 80’s, however, it became clear that the fundamental systems our profession needed to use required a different mind-frame and we needed to keep pace. We embraced a succession of technology firsts and broke new ground with overlay drafting, Master Spec, Con-doc, and eventually embraced the inevitable–CAD.”

Soon after came the juggernaut change of faster chipsets, the internet, email, and cloud systems. Today we use graphic and BIM software such as Revit, Enscape, Bluebeam, Sketchup, AutoCAD, and others to communicate, design, document and present. Often a laptop is all the design tools we use; the drafting tables, straight-edges, and rolls of prints of old just a nostalgic memory.

Notable Projects

From its locally focused projects and small staff in the 80s, OLC eventually grew its services and reach by adding offices in Orlando, Tokyo, and Cairo to service local clients. Recognizing that the unique and specific needs of our clients required specialized services we also added an aquatic design department and an interior design department along the way.

In the last few years OLC has designed a variety of health & wellness, hospitality, recreation, and aquatic facilities. Notable projects include:

  • Estes Valley Community Center, Estes Park, Colorado
  • Multiple Buildings for the Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Missouri
  • Additions and renovations at the Newtown Athletic Club in Newtown, Pennsylvania
  • A new Tennis & Pickleball Center Clubhouse for Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
  • The new Lake Nona Performance Club in Orlando, Florida
  • Lobby and room renovations at Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Denver
  • A wellness center for Hancock Regional Medical Center in Greenfield, Indiana
  • A Deepak Chopra wellness project
  • Several hospitality projects for a prominent theme park developer in Florida

To this day our firm is centered around our client’s needs and particularly focused on projects that keep our communities healthy—from full-service wellness centers to your neighborhood swimming pool. Our principals and staff have been privileged to work on many interesting and life-changing projects over these 60 years. For that we thank our clients, our consultants, industry experts, the contractors who built our designs and the many folks we have gotten to know along the way.

Reflecting on our past we can certainly say, as the ad goes, “We’ve learned a thing or two.”  But it also sharpens our focus on what matters in a world of continual change: relationships, stewardship, good design, and being open-minded.

Stuart Ohlson and Hervey Lavoie, FMFA are the original founders of the 60-year-old architecture firm, Ohlson Lavoie Corporation, or OLC, as it’s known today.

Click here to learn more about OLC. Note: Hervey Lavoie serves on the MFA Board of Directors.

Medical Fitness Association Welcomes Evolt as an Industry Partner

The Medical Fitness Association is pleased to welcome Evolt as an Industry Partner.

Evolt is a digital body composition analytic company. Using BIA technology, it’s the only product on the market that offers personalised calorie & macronutrient recommendations based on an individual’s true lean body-mass. This innovative technology provides a digital health tracking platform for the user as an intuitive data analytics platform.

Evolt is at the forefront of technology in the body composition space, providing the latest cloud-based Body Composition technology, to help individuals achieve their physical health and well-being goals.

This powerful high tech ecosystem gives you the insights to make data driven decisions to help your business achieve higher retention rates, increased referrals, customer engagement & additional revenue streams.
Better health is about making lifestyle adjustments and changes to daily habits.

Click here to read more on how you can ensure your customers are informed, educated and accountable about their health.

American Kinesiotherapy Commemorates 75th Anniversary of “Improvement Through Movement.”

Washington, D.C. — April 2021: Kinesiotherapy, one of the oldest therapeutic disciplines, announces the celebration of its 75th anniversary year as a profession.

Founded in 1946 on the battlefield of WWII, Kinesiotherapy (formerly Corrective Therapy) was created by U.S. Surgeon General Major Norman T. Kirk and Dr. Howard Rusk, early pioneers in the emerging field of rehabilitation medicine. With the increased survival of troops suffering from illness or injury, there was a great demand to return soldiers to active duty. Corrective physical reconditioning units were established to enhance this process.

The American Kinesiotherapy Association (AKTA), formerly the Association of Physical and Mental Rehabilitation, was created to support the rehabilitative services of Registered Kinesiotherapists (RKT) while promoting the health and wellness of all populations including Veterans and individuals with functional limitations.

Kinesiotherapy is unlike any other medical fitness or therapeutic discipline because it encompasses the whole body” said Kendall Noble, president-elect of the AKTA. “RKT’s are educated and trained on behavior change in addition to physical rehabilitation.” Kinesiotherapists continue where traditional therapy ends – taking the client from injury or illness to whole-health.

In recognition of 75 years of the profession of Kinesiotherapy, the AKTA is highlighting a few of the specialties that encompasses the best of their modalities. These include:

  • Adaptive Sports including working with amputees and Para-Olympic athletes
  • Aquatics
  • Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehabilitation
  • Driver Training Rehabilitation
  • Orthopedics
  • Neurology

The foundation of Kinesiotherapy is in the administration of musculoskeletal, neurological, ergonomic, biomechanical, psychosocial and task specific functional tests, culminating in behavioral and physical modifications.

Dr. Timothy Silver, former Chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at McGuire Veterans Affairs Hospital in Richmond, Virginia said, “Having an exercise physiology background makes kinesiotherapists (RKT) well suited for additional sub-specialization in many areas. We have RKTs who provide cardiac and pulmonary rehab, aquatic therapy, driver training, and functional capacity evaluations. The versatile nature of kinesiotherapists makes them well suited for interdisciplinary patient care.

The American Kinesiotherapy Association is a nonprofit, member based organization committed to the support of all Registered Kinesiotherapists across the country. To learn more visit www.akta.org.

Contact:
Kathy Camp
AKTA Executive Director
ExecutiveDirector@akta.org

Brain Health Matters Podcast – Enhancing Brain Capacity

Check out the latest podcast from MFA Strategic Partner, the Academy for Brain Health and Performance.

This month’s podcast features Dr. Evian Gordon, as he shares a framework of how the brain works as a system, as well as a practical step in making your brain’s capacity more effective, no matter your age.

Dr. Evian Gordon is an integrative neuroscientist and medical doctor as well as the Founder, Executive Chairman and Chief Medical Officer of Total Brain. 

Beacon Health

Fully Integrated: Beacon Health and Fitness

Check out the February 2020 edition of Club Solutions Magazine for the cover article about MFA member Beacon Health & Fitness. According to the article, “Medical fitness is profoundly changing the relationship between fitness and healthcare.” Read about how Alan Loyd, FACHE, FMFA, has transformed Beacon Health System’s fitness facilities from a loss leader to a profitable, self-sustaining operation.

Note: Alan Loyd was the 2019 recipient of the Hank Boerner Pioneer Award…now you can see why!

CLICK HERE to read the article.