This isn't a gym for everyone, and serves many people who come there with a purpose other than to…read moreget fit. New Heart NM is a medically supervised gym for people recovering from heart attacks, strokes, covid, or fighting obesity. It's also a place to go if you want to get approved for a workout by a cardiologist, with a routine pulled together by one of several kinesiologists or exercise specialists. It's also used by seniors who have access to the Silver Sneakers program set up as part of their insurance or medicare.
It's largely an under-utlized gym, where all the equipment is in very good shape and kept clean by rules of Covid and all of the clients there adhere to the rules. If anything, they have too much equipment on the floor, given than it's never more than 10% full.
The staff is welcoming, well educated, and each client is committed to their routine and has to track BP, O2, and heart rates throughout their designated exercise routine. Target heart rates, resistance levels, and circuits are all noted on detailed exercise sheets that every client has to keep track of.
Where they could improve greatly is refining their work flow. They need to invest in a way to keep track of all the data electronically so that the staff isn't faced with a mountain of data entry everyday. What's the point of having a kinesiologist or an exercise specialist if they're not able to be on the floor regularly, encourage clients, and share knowledge if all you're doing is having them do data entry? Because the personal touch is how you earn a good reputation as well as getting new members. Without their enthusiasm, this is simply a place for old people on Silver Sneakers to shuffle through.
They're also not working to get Gen X'ers and Gen Y's, who also might have issues with obesity, high blood pressure or diabetes. Pretty much everyone there is an aging boomer or older. There's much they could do to expand their services to provide services that they can bill insurance for. They could clear out the small room and turn that into Physical Therapy with Physical Therapists for recovering orthopedic patients and people who've been sent thru worker's comp. They could have a robust dietary program, staffed by a clinical Registered Dietician who works with not only those who want to lose weight, but those trying to come back from fighting cancer. They could do more adaptive sports training for those with mobility limitations. A higher profile overall when it comes to supporting athletic or fitness events that active people want to be in will help people find out about them, gain credibility in the community, and get them in.
In all, there's only upwards to go, but that will involve retooling their board of directors and add persons with strong community networking, and financial backgrounds, who want to see this gym a success and unclip the wings of the present staff who are all stuck behind computers. Operated properly, and expanded to the westside and the NE, this gym could save and enhance lives.
