Madonna ProActive focuses on health

NEBRASKA MEDICAL FITNESS CENTER EMPHASIZES PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE, REHAB

 

By Sonja Pedersen-Green

 

There are at least a couple of reasons why hospital-affiliated medical fitness centers are a growing trend in secondary market cities.

First, hospitals in such locales seem to have the ability and time to provide services beyond acute care. Large hospitals in urban areas, on the other hand, must often direct a large portion of their resources to providing acute-care services.

Second, residents in smaller towns have fewer choices when it comes to health clubs and fitness centers.

An example of such a scenario can be found on the Midwest plains of Nebraska, in the state’s capital city of Lincoln.

There, the nearly 50-year-old Madonna Rehabilitative Hospital recently opened its own $12 million, 60,000 square foot medical fitness center to fill a niche in the town of an estimated 225,000 people. While Lincoln is home to two locally owned health clubs, it does not have one of the large, national health club chains.

The Madonna ProActive Medical Fitness Center opened in January with an initial 1,200 members – a figure that has jumped to 2,000. As a result of such a growth, officials have set their sights on 5,000 members.

Like almost all hospital-affiliated medical fitness centers, ProActive officials say their facility and staff is dedicated to promoting healthier lifestyles and disease prevention through fitness, diet and stress reduction. In addition, the staff also provides rehabilitative services in a variety of ways.

Fitness a little differently

The ProActive fitness center is somewhat unique in that it is both owned and operated by Madonna Rehabilitative Hospital. In many cases, hospitals bring in third-party management firms to operate medical fitness centers they own or are partners in. Typically, the property is owned by another party, to which the hospital, or ownership partnership, pays rent.

However, after receiving a donation that helped it buy the land necessary for the fitness center, Madonna chose to own and manage the facility itself. 

The medical fitness center is the newest addition to a stable of facilities that Madonna has five locations in and around Lincoln, including its main 250-bed rehabilitative and long-term care campus in central Lincoln. It also has three other satellite locations, known as Therapy Plus outpatient facilities, scattered around town. Another therapy Plus facility is located in Beatrice, Neb., about 40 miles to the south.

ProActive, which is located in the south part of the city, was designed by Greenville, S.C.-based Enwright & Associates Architects and is attached to an under-construction medical office building being developed by a group of local physicians. Madonna will own a spa within the MOB.

“We think it creates a destination for people having the doctor’s offices connected to our fitness center,” Ms. Paulson notes.

The construction management firm on the ProActive facility was Lincoln-based Sampson Construction Co.

The fitness center houses everything that can be found in a typical health club: a multipurpose gymnasium, an exercise area with 100 pieces or so pieces of exercise equipment, areas for aerobics, yoga and other classes, a café with a variety of healthful choices, a walking/running track, three swimming pools for a variety of uses, whirlpools, saunas, and others.

It also contains the features and personnel that helps define it as a medical fitness center, such as programs and classes for cardiac health, various types of rehabilitation, sports medicine, wellness coaching, healthy cooking classes, a custom-designed heated therapy pool, and others. 

A natural feeling

As a design feature, the walking/running track is located on the second floor of a facility on high ground in the south part of Lincoln.

“People on the walking track have views for as far as you can see,” Ms. Paulson says. “The views are very important and are part of the emphasis on healing.”

The facility also contains “pods” – glass-walled rooms that jut out from the building and provide a panoramic view of the outdoors.

“We were really looking for the feel of tranquility and the outdoors, and a really different feeling at our facility,” Paulson says.

Such a feature, Ms. Paulson says, is part of what sets Madonna ProActive apart from a retail fitness center.

“Obviously, aesthetically, there are differences,” she adds. “There are water features when you walk in, a fireplace, pine ceilings, more windows: the entire length of the gym is glass wall. There’s attention to detail in regards to light and bringing the outdoors in.”

ProActive features water features throughout the facility, including a 45-foot wall of flowing water leading to the grand atrium at the entrance.

Ms. Paulson says another goal is to make members feel as if they’re in a tranquil and natural setting.

“In addition, we have a meditation room with a fireplace and water feature,” she says, “In the meditation room we have yoga, Pilates and meditation. We also have a healing garden with a labyrinth and an outdoor pool.”

The entire length of ProActive’s gym is glass-walled. The ceilings are pine, which Ms. Paulsen says can also help create the sensation that one is communing with natured. Such a sensation increases tranquility, which, of course, can aid in healing.

Community-focused fitness

As a rehabilitative hospital that’s been around since the 1958, Madonna draws patients from well outside of the city of Lincoln. “We’re a regional facility,” Ms. Paulson says.

Yet, adding the medical fitness center to its mix of services has provided Madonna with a good marketing tool, especially in the local community.

“The fitness center is more local, but we’re a part of this community and we’re really known in the community for helping people reach their goals and it’s part of our way of reaching out to the community,” Ms. Paulson says.

“Our focus has been on the continuum of care,” she adds. “We usually help people after traumatic illnesses or injuries and our hope is that ProActive would be a destination for them after they’ve had inpatient rehabilitation treatment. But we hope that through our prevention methods at Madonna ProActive, people will be able to avoid some traumatic diseases or health risks.” q

Madonna ProActive Medical Fitness Center

LINCOLN, NEB.

STATS

 

Size: Two stories, 60,000 square feet

Location: South part of Lincoln, attached to a medical office building

PLAYERS

 

Owner: Madonna Rehabilitative Hospital

Architect: Enwright & Associates Architects

Construction manager: Sampson Construction Co.