Apr 11, 2008 3:34 PM
Interview with Marc Meeker, program manager for Navy Fitness
A: Well, the biggest thing we are pushing is the whole family approach. And by family [I mean] the Navy family. We’re not just meaning your family as in spouses and things like that. We’re talking Department of Defense, civilians, spouses, retirees, the enlisted sailor and things like that because it comes out of the big mix. [What] not everybody thinks about is that it comes out of the Department of Defense budget, and healthcare costs are part of that. So if we have a healthier workforce entirely, that will mean that we will go ahead and cut those costs for healthcare dramatically if we can get that, which is an evolution. And not everybody still believes in that, and we still have issues that some people never go to see a doctor and are perfectly healthy, and other people are there every week. And that’s the biggest thing. We want to get to those people who are using the system and putting a lot of stress on it because of their health or their fitness. What we want to do is decrease that as much as we can to get down to the point where it’s only people going to the doctor who need it and using the healthcare system. I think that’s everywhere. I think that every business is looking at that now. It’s not just the Navy. I think it’s every business starting to say, “Hey, healthcare cost is an issue. How can we reduce it?” Well, one way is to get people healthy. I mean people are still going to get sick; it’s inevitable. I wish there was a perfect, healthy world out there that we could live in, but it’s getting people to buy into the fact that by keeping themselves in shape, it will affect them later as far as their dollar amount because with most programs you do pay some type of healthcare costs when you are doing that. You are investing money, plus the company, so the company is looking at it [and saying], “So how can we cut our costs?” But in the long term, too, it’s going to help the person with the actual costs.
We need our sailors to be in shape. We need our sailors to be ready for duty. We need our sailors to be ready for, like I said, emergency situations, be able to do their jobs more efficiently and things like that. That’s the number one priority. But in the big picture, it does come down to healthcare costs, too, for a lot of us. So how much money does that civilian worker, how much does he put a strain on the system for being out of shape?
We just did a thing where we used to charge our DOD civilians [to use our fitness centers], too, but as an initiative to help out with this, [we] allow them free access to come in. It’s a nice thing to do to get people who may not have normally come in because they may not want to pay for a health club membership. Well, now that they have it accessible, they are like, “Well, OK. Now that we have it accessible, we might as well go.” It’s free, and that’s been a big one for us. Now have we seen a huge increase [in the number of people coming into those fitness centers]? Well, initially just like anything else, with the New Year’s resolutions, when something new comes around, people start coming in, but it’s leveled off. We’ve got a few more people back in that were working out before, and they really appreciate not having to pay anymore, and that’s a really nice little perk for being a DOD civilian, so that’s a nice thing.
As far as what you are going to probably see more of, the family-friendly areas, like I said, where you can bring your child and place them into these little play areas while the parent actually watches the child work out. You’re probably going to see a lot more family fitness areas, meaning true strength rooms. We’ve done a few little things in Norfolk (VA) and Kingsbay (GA) and some different areas, and we are starting to buy some new equipment where both mom and dad can work out with the kids with the same equipment at the same time, like circuit training, so the whole family is working out together. So, [we are] including everybody in fitness.
And our big thing now is pushing “exercise your options,” and finding out about things you can do to stay healthy whether it be nutrition, whether it be physical fitness, whether it be sports, whether it be swimming, whatever it is. We are trying to just get the sailor to start thinking about a healthy lifestyle. That’s the initial thing you have to get the sailor to start thinking about because when they start thinking healthy, they start thinking, “Well, do I need that candy bar? Do I need to have that extra beer?” They start thinking about the little extra things that maybe could help them in their fitness endeavors rather than just throwing caution to the wind, [saying] “I’m a young kid. I’m invincible.” Then, they turn 30 and think, “Wow, I really shouldn’t have done that when I was younger.” Where now they wake up 10 years later and say, “I’m out of shape. I’m overweight.” Now, they are working to get it off rather than just getting them early and when they’re younger and start doing those [healthy lifestyle behaviors] that will really help them out throughout their entire life.
We are always trying to improve our fitness centers, too. We are starting to get a few mil-cons, which are military construction. We are trying to improve our facilities, our older ones that have been around a while. The Navy is a very old organization, so we do have some buildings that are very old, too, and we are gradually getting some new facilities out there. The new ones that have been built recently have been just phenomenal. There’s some beautiful facilities in Sigonella, Italy, and Loma, CA. We have [some new ones in] Oceana (VA) and Norfolk (VA). Some of our newer ones are just excellent and beautiful, state-of-the-art facilities that rival probably some of the top commercial health clubs as far as space and equipment and things like that.
That’s another thing we are always striving for and the biggest [thing] beyond quality facilities is education, trying to get the information to our sailors on the importance of fitness and how we can reach them. And again, that comes from having a certified staff and consistent information given by our staff. That’s another thing that we want to try and promote a little more in the future because consistency in information is the key. Why should a sailor in Norfolk (VA) who moves to San Diego get two conflicting views on what fitness is? If you walk into any health club in America and you go to three trainers and interview all three of them, they’d each say a different thing on what they thought fitness was. That’s what we are trying to get away from. I think we are confusing too many people, and when you are dealing with this many people in a select population like the Navy, you want to make sure you have a consistent message. That’s the big thing.
Talk Back
Pamela Kufahl
Editor
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