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Ruralite Cafe: Published 03/28/02

By Lisa Majors-Duff-News Editor

Keeping Jackson County healthy is good idea

 Lisa
It's impossible to miss it when you drive by it at night, especially on a frosty winter evening. The glow emanating from the structure's floor-to-ceiling windows seem to call out to you, inviting you to come in and sit by the fire to warm your weary bones.

Once inside, though, you immediately realize that this is not a place that promotes a sedentary lifestyle. Instead, most of those who enter do so for exactly the opposite reason.

If you are interested in being healthy and you haven't visited the Haywood Regional Health and Fitness Center - the building that glows nightly from a hilltop across the four-lane from the Wal-Mart in Clyde - what are you waiting for? Too busy to join a gym? Not good enough; try again. Too far away? I guess a case could be made for that line of reasoning if you live west of Sylva. On the other hand, how many quick trips to the mall (or other popular Asheville destinations) have you made in the past month?

But the best reason yet to visit is so that you can voice an informed opinion on whether or not Jackson County should build a similar facility. Actually, according to the plan presented to county commissioners last week, Jackson County government would be one of three partners on the project with Southwestern Community College and WestCare. Both SCC President Cecil Groves and Lee Isley of WestCare Health Systems made a pitch in favor of conducting a feasibility study at a cost of about $36,000 divided three ways.

(Commissioners agreed 4-1 to fund a share of the study - $12,000 - with Chairman Jay Denton voting "no" because of what he termed "budget restraints.") Since receiving some $6.9 million in state education construction bonds, officials at SCC have been looking for ways to best spend the money to meet the needs of students and community members. Talks continue on relocating the Jackson County Library to the Webster campus, an option first discussed back when plans to expand the library at its current Main Street location fell through.

Now, President Groves said, the school is also considering incorporating a wellness center on the campus for a variety of reasons, including meeting the physical education needs of students, instructing individuals in how to operate such a facility and for a "quality of life" enhancement students have requested and can be found at other state institutions of higher education.

WestCare is most interested in the health and wellness opportunities such a facility would offer, said Isley, who stressed the health system would play the medical role. WestCare, through Harris Regional, already offers many wellness opportunities - including physical and cardio/pulmonary therapy, health education venues, and general fitness - to this and the regional community, he said. Building a health and fitness center could be one way to offer all these services and more under one roof, he said.

The role of the county recreation department is a little less defined at this point, said director Jeff Carpenter. The idea of an indoor pool has piqued his interest, as well as the opportunity to be part of a planning process in the areas of health, wellness and fitness. Carpenter, like both Groves and Isley, expressed the primary theme of the project - community involvement.

That's where the feasibility study comes into play. Riverside Health System of Virginia has been asked to conduct the study, which should commence in about six weeks and will include random telephone surveys of about 5,000 county residents, Isley said. Those surveyed will be asked such things as how much they would pay for a fitness center membership, how often they would used the facility, how far they would be willing to drive, would an indoor pool be beneficial and what other services they would be most interested in seeing offered.

The results of the survey should answer these and many other questions, including what kind of budget would be necessary to operate a fitness center in Jackson County, how not to over or underbuild such a facility, where to locate it and if anybody still plays racquetball.

I admit that when I first heard Jackson County, SCC and WestCare were interested in building a fitness center, I thought it was another case of trying to keep up with the neighbors. Upon further contemplation while relaxing in the Haywood center's steam room after running a couple miles on the indoor track and working with the free weights, I decided those of us who live in Jackson County also deserve and should expect the very best.

Back to Archive: 03/28/02.