IHRSA’s Kristen Walsh speaks to Amy Bantham, IHRSA’s vice president of health promotion and health policy, to gain an insight into the IHRSA Foundation

What is the IHRSA Foundation?
The IHRSA Foundation is a charitable organisation established in 2012 to promote health through exercise. The purpose of the IHRSA Foundation is to support IHRSA’s charitable and educational functions.

The mission of the IHRSA Foundation is focused in three key areas:
• Conducting research on health outcomes associated with the practice of physical activity
• Providing educational and training resources and support to health clubs
• Promoting evidence-based health and wellness programmes that result in individuals embracing a healthier lifestyle through exercise

What is the long-term goal of the IHRSA Foundation?
We want to increase the visibility of our industry’s success stories and the amazing work that clubs are doing to improve people’s lives. We believe that there's there’s no better vehicle than the IHRSA Foundation to do this.

The foundation is young, but it has big, long-term goals. Ideally, IHRSA would like to have a scientifically proven study showing the benefits of exercise on every chronic disease. It’s both a challenge and an opportunity, but it has great potential to expand the reach and credibility of our industry.

What activities will the IHRSA Foundation support in 2017?
This year we will launch five ACCESS Health pilot programmes in IHRSA clubs, from California to New York. The ACCESS Health initiative is the IHRSA Foundation’s five-year strategic effort to remove the barriers to physical activity for people with chronic conditions through participant-focused, multi-dimensional wellness programmes.

One such programme, funded by the IHRSA Foundation and the American Council on Exercise (ACE), is a pilot programme to serve cancer patients in San Diego area health clubs.

In addition, the IHRSA Foundation is also addressing the needs of people with disabilities. Four pilot programmes will be conducted at Newtown Athletic Club, Pennsylvania; ACAC Timonium, Maryland; ACAC Charlottesville, Virginia; and Clubfit Briarcliff, New York with the support of the IHRSA Foundation, ACE, and the Universal Fitness Innovation and Transformation (UFIT) team. UFIT is a global social change movement whose goal is to increase fitness opportunities for all, but particularly those with disabilities.

What does the ACCESS Health initiative consist of?
The ACCESS Health initiative is a collection of programmes: Cancer Wellness; Diabetes; Chronic Disease; and Inclusive Fitness. Through the ACCESS Health initiative, the IHRSA Foundation is helping clubs open their doors to people with disabilities, and those with or who are at risk of developing chronic conditions. These are the segments of the population that are most in need of the health and wellness programmes and services offered by our industry.

Will there be pilot programmes outside the United States?
The initial pilot programmes are in the United States, but in the long term the IHRSA Foundation will be global in reach. Physical inactivity and obesity are global problems, and health clubs offer a solution. The IHRSA Foundation will, therefore, support the global network of IHRSA clubs in providing that important solution.

How will the IHRSA Foundation help to grow the industry?
The IHRSA Foundation is a tremendous benefit of IHRSA membership because it gives club operators something to present to their members or prospects, and say “Here’s what we can do to help you.” Doing so is likely to help bring in new members, and prompt current members to be more active in the club.

The foundation’s research will also be used to forge important relationships with physicians and medical professionals. Again, the benefit is credibility. IHRSA has published several resource publications over the past year to help its member clubs create referral relationships with doctors and other medical professionals. All operators have noted that solid data is essential when attempting to persuade doctors that it is beneficial for them to refer patients to a club wellness programme or personal trainer.

The IHRSA Foundation will also work directly with doctors and medical professionals to educate them about lifestyle medicine, including how to incorporate it into their practice and how to discuss the importance of physical activity with their patients.