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Julie Sich Center Director

The Wellness Council would like to thank Julie Sich M.S. ATC/L CSCS, Program Manager of UAW-Ford Bieber-Poling Health and Fitness Center Brookpark, Ohio who conducted the tour of her facility on May 11, 2004. Julie joined The Health and Fitness Team in 1997 following her graduation from The University of Akron. She has a Master's Degree in Exercise Physiology and a Bachelor's Degree in Sports Medicine.
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Medifit operates this center for the ford-UAW joint management and labor committee. Medifit is headquarter in New Jersey. For more information about Medifit see www.medifit.com. They offer a complete line of  Worksite Fitness Programs, Web Based Fitness Programs, Worksite and Web Based Health Promotion programs..

The Center is free to all fulltime, part time employees and retirees. A small amount of money is deducted from all employee checks each pay period to pay for the Fitness Center and other Employee Support Services Programs. There are currently 56 UAW Ford fitness centers through out the country. Each fitness center is managed by a corporate fitness vendor of the local sites choosing, MCS manages four sites.

 To become a member,  employees complete a health risk questionnaire and a fitness evaluation. The Center is staffed by 5 fulltime staff that have a Bachelors or Masters degree in Exercise Science and 3 part time staff that sub and teach classes. The center is open  M-F 4 am to 1 am, Sat 8 am to 2 pm and Closed Sunday.  Exercise programs are developed by staff to meet each member's specific needs. To see a Photo Gallery of the Center click here.

Programming
The center offers 4 incentive programs through out the year with different themes and goals for all members. The current program is Passport to Fitness. Each week from April 29 through May 29,members can travel to two destinations based upon the number of minutes they exercise. Destinations include places such as Italy, Germany, France, and Greece.

Four informational clinics are offered through out the year to all employees. These half-hour long programs are offered multiple times of the day for several weeks so that they are convenient to all employees. Back Care Clinic is the next offering. It will offer proper lifting techniques, strengthening exercises and other valuable information.

A quarterly schedule of  group exercise classes are offered through out the day and week. The schedule is updated on a quarterly basis to meet member needs. Examples of classes include, Stretch-N-Tone, Strength Express, Serious Steps, and Sunset Yoga.

The center out reach to employees through a newsletter which is walked through the plant. On a bi-weekly basis through  an "ask the health and fitness specialist" question are submited and answered via interoffice e-mail.  The Center also has several BB that are updated on a monthly basis throughout the plant.

Within the Center two member recognition boards are maintaind. One for number of visits and one for group exercise  participation. Another board is to introduce center Staff and another for  the Health Awareness topic of the Month . There are also two monthly tip boards.

The Center also works to integrate with other plant operations such as education fair,  Weight Watchers Presentations, and ergonomics core strengthening programs in addition to general  healthy lifestyles talks.

Statistics
Current membership is 2,207 which represents 51% of the plant population of 4,326 employees. Members averaged 102 visit per day and 2,525 visits per month during the first quarter. 82% of our membership is male and 18% is female.  77% of the membership is hourly, 20% is salaried employees and 3% are retirees. The center records Vital Statistics for pre and post incentive programs. For example, for the first quarter 72% of the participant's heart rates decreased or stayed the same, 79% of the participant's body weights decreased or stayed the same and 84% of the participant's blood pressures decreased or stayed the same. Busiest days of the week are Monday, Wednesday and Friday. High Risk coding of the membership includes  9% of the membership reported having diabetes or skeletal limitations, 19% of the membership reported having a heart or lung condition and 72% of the membership reported having no medical risk factors.

The members most favorite incentive program is Boot Camp. Members complete weekly workouts designed by fitness staff and results are posted. The most popular Clinic is "All about Abs". The most popular fitness evaluation is Body Composition. The equipment that get the most use are Cardio equipment, particularly the  Cross Trainers. Members favorite Strength equipment is the Abdominal. The best attended Group Exercise Classes is the Stretch & Tone and Serious Step