Feb. 3, 2005

Health and Wellness Center Extends Hours

By Matt Nehmer

GW’s Annette and Theodore Lerner Family Health and Wellness Center capped its weeklong open house for faculty and staff with a health fair Jan. 26. The fair was geared toward anyone with a GWorld card, inviting them to participate in a variety of activities including blood pressure tests, diet counseling, fitness screenings, hearing tests, free seated massages, and cholesterol checks for the first 50 people.

The center recently extended its operating hours, opening the doors each weekday at 6:30 am for early bird exercisers and running through 11:30 pm. Saturday’s hours are 9 am – 8 pm and Sunday’s hours are 11 am – 11:30 pm.

Andre Julien, assistant athletic director for health and wellness, hopes the new hours will help alleviate the busier times of the day and give people more options. “Right now the 2:30 pm to 7:30 pm time block is the busiest,” said Julien. “I’m hoping the new times will help move our high volume bands around a bit.”

One of those bands he hopes will get more attention is mornings. He encourages patrons to visit in the mornings, when use is lighter. Prior to Jan. 18 the workday hours began at 7 am. “There may have been a perception that people didn’t have enough time to exercise and get them back to their office to begin their work day,” said Julien. “Thirty minutes doesn’t sound like much, but it should be a big help.”

So far the new hours, according to Julien, have been generally well received, and he predicted they will aid scheduling needs. “I think we will really see a significant difference in our intramural sports evening programming,” he said, “as it will allow us to accommodate more teams.”

The new hours were approved at a DC Zoning Commission hearing last June. GW also was allowed to extend membership privileges to members of the GW Board of Trustees, and students, faculty, and staff from GW’s Mount Vernon Campus.

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu

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Health and Wellness Center