For David Patchell-Evans, the founder and CEO of GoodLife Fitness, it was his own personal struggle that fostered his desire to work in the health and fitness industry.
At 19, Patchell-Evans was involved in a motorcycle accident. Fitness and rehabilitation helped him get back on his feet and even go on to become a five-time Canadian rowing champion.
“I wanted to give back the way I had been helped, so I decided to take over a fitness club that I was a member of,” said Patchell-Evans, referring to GoodLife Fitness. “Fitness improved my quality of life, so I wanted to help do the same for others. The mission of our company is to help every Canadian have a fit and healthy life.”
Recently, Patchell-Evans expanded his outreach by partnering with the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, to create the GoodLife Fitness Centre of Excellence in Rehabilitation Medicine. He was drawn to the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, not only because it is one of the world’s leaders in cardiac care, but because of its exceptional, dedicated staff.
“When we had our first meeting, my schedule was busy and I couldn’t get there until 9:00 p.m., but all the major cardiovascular surgeons and all the top kinesiologists came for a 9:00 p.m. meeting, in a snow storm,” recalled Patchell-Evans. “I thought, okay these guys actually care, they are really into it. So that warmed my heart to the fact that these people would be as committed to helping others as I was.”
Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in both the U.S. and Canada. The partnership between GoodLife Fitness and the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre helps patients recover from cardiac incidents, but also prevents them from happening in the first place.
“They knew our reputation for personal training and we knew how good they were so we said, let’s create a program that is focused on people with cardiac risk,” said Patchell-Evans. “Then when a patient comes to the hospital and they do have a cardiac incident, let’s offer a program that focuses on cardiac recovery. We outfitted two clinics for them inside the hospital and developed a training program, which we can take to our clubs and spread across the country.”
Recently, Dr. Paul Oh was chosen to be the inaugural GoodLife Chair in Cardiovascular Rehabilitation and Prevention. Dr. Oh is currently the medical director of the UHN Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation Program. When deciding who would run the program, Patchell-Evans said they wanted a world-class rehabilitation and cardiovascular specialist, and after conducting a worldwide search, they realized that person was Dr. Oh, who happened to already be at UHN.
GoodLife Fitness has committed $5 million to the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre with the goal of transforming the lives of Canadians affected by heart disease, and hopefully preventing future cases.
By Emily Harbourne
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Rachel Zabonick-Chonko is the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@peakemedia.com.
