By the time the next issue of Healthy New Albany Magazine is distributed, the Philip Heit Center for Healthy New Albany will be open for business after more than four years of planning and construction.
The Heit Center, in conjunction with Healthy New Albany and health care partners The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, will serve as the community’s health anchor while complementing recreational amenities that already exist in and around town.
The OSU Wexner Medical Center’s Health and Fitness Center, inside the Heit Center, will offer wellness plans tailored to your heal
th level and ultimate fitness goals. It will feature the most advanced fitness equipment in central Ohio, one-on-one wellness coaching, portable technology to monitor progress in real time, group fitness classes, free weights and an aquatics area that includes a lap pool and a warm water exercise pool.
Because each individual’s path to wellness is unique, plans will be fully customized beginning with a comprehensive health assessment to set realistic short- and long-term activity goals for every member. And since health and wellness is a New Albany core value, the city will, for a limited time, pay 75 percent of the health assessment fees for New Albany residents joining the fitness center.
Fitness center members will continue to be responsible for all aspects of the monthly membership fees. This city incentive is strictly for New Albany resident health assessments, allowing them the opportunity to establish health baselines to promote better long-term health. Fitness center membership information is available at www.go.osu.edu/newalbanyfit or by calling 614-685-1820.
Ohio State’s Health and Fitness Center staff will also work with Healthy New Albany staff and volunteers to develop free or affordable health and wellness programming for the entire community. Healthy New Albany, which is managing the community space inside the 55,000-square-foot Heit Center, is a local grassroots initiative founded by New Albany’s own Phil Heit, for whom the Heit Center is named.
As a professor, Phil helped mold today’s health leaders. As a resident, he helped establish a culture of wellness throughout New Albany through his passion for health. Healthy New Albany programs include the New Albany Walking Classic, the New Albany Farmers Market, a community garden, a lecture series and this magazine. With Phil’s passion for health and his involvement from the beginning of this project, City Council found it fitting that the center should bear his name.
Healthy New Albany has also worked for the past nine months to establish programming committees for various age groups based on community feedback. Some of these programs will begin either when the Heit Center opens or early in 2015.
In February 2015, health care services will open on the Heit Center’s second floor, with services provided by the OSU Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s. Services will include primary care, sports medicine, physical therapy, orthopedics and integrative medicine. More information about these services is available at www.heitcenter.com.
When the idea for a community health and fitness center was first suggested in 2010, City Council’s vision was to increase Village Center foot traffic, thereby creating an environment that could support new recreation and entertainment amenities. The Heit Center is making this vision a reality with little financial risk thanks to our health care partners, who have committed to leases of at least 15 years, and to the New Albany Company, which donated the land where the center is being built. Combined, the Heit Center and the New Albany Company’s Market & Main commercial development constitute more than 80,000 square feet of new
Village Center development. This is why even residents who may never set foot in the Heit Center can benefit from its presence.
The Heit Center will continue to serve as a catalyst for development, bringing more restaurants and services to the heart of our town, something residents have desired for years. And, in just a matter of weeks, it will begin to offer an unmatched personal health experience that can help inspire all of us to better health.
Scott McAfee is a contributing writer and is public information officer for the city of New Albany. Feedback welcome at tdufresne@cityscenemediagroup.com.
