Army Wellness Center on the horizon at Lee

By Tereasa Wade, Public Affairs Officer, Kenner Army Health ClinicJune 26, 2014

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FORT LEE, Va. (June 26, 2014) -- For community members who want to improve fitness, nutrition, overall health or performance goals, the Army Wellness Center Fort Lee soon will be the right place to go.

The grand opening and ribbon cutting is planned for later this summer. The center, located in building 9205 on Mahone Avenue, will offer the Fort Lee community programs such as individual fitness assessments, healthy nutrition education, and weight and stress management, as well as unit level health and fitness assessments.

How will the AWC work?

"Before the first appointment," said Cory Erhard, Fort Lee Army Wellness Center director, "a client (all visits are considered medical appointments) will complete a health questionnaire about nutrition, sleep habits, lifestyle activities and family medical history to be reviewed by a health educator.

"This helps your Army Wellness Center team determine what assessments will be appropriate as well as establish client goals and background information."

Each coaching session is individualized toward client-specific goals and uses assessment results as a guide to laying out the appropriate strategy for goal attainment. Metabolic testing, which can be used to establish appropriate calorie intake ranges, as well as body composition testing using the BOD POD (percentage of body fat) are very useful tools when developing and evaluating the customized plans, Erhard explained.

In addition to the metabolic and body composition assessments, other services offered to help achieve wellness goals are: fitness testing, exercise prescription, stress management and general wellness education to include classes on nutrition and healthy sleep habits.

Patients who visit the AWC to reach healthy weight loss goals can expect a comprehensive, scientific guide to reach those goals.

"We want it to be a measured, on-going process because losing weight too quickly has the potential to be unhealthy and unsafe. We want it to be a gradual change, and a long-term lifestyle shift rather than a temporary change to see the numbers on the scale move," said Erhard who added that exercise is also key to weight management.

"Having that metabolic assessment will be very eye-opening because, oftentime, people do not realize just how much they are actually eating," he noted.

AWC personnel adhere to the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines in all assessment areas.

The center is open to active-duty military, dependent family members, DOD Civilians and retirees.

For more information, call (804) 734-9086.