Metro Partners With YMCA

WYOMING — The new Spartan Stores YMCA will be located on eight acres on the northeast corner of MetroHealthVillage, it was announced Wednesday. Ground will be broken this fall and the new facility is expected to open in the fall of 2008.

The new Spartan Stores YMCA will partner with Metro Health to integrate medical services into a wellness-center environment so patients receiving services at Metro Health will have access to the facilities of the YMCA as part of their treatment. Medical-wellness services could include physical therapy, sports medicine and a variety of prevention education clinics and programs. The Spartan Stores YMCA will offer medical, wellness and child care services for residents of Kent, Ottawa and Allegan counties. Spartan Stores Foundation gave a $3 million lead gift toward construction of the facility.

"The concept of offering medically supervised treatment programs in a wellness center setting is a cutting-edge trend in American medicine," said Metro Health President and CEO Mike Faas. "The combination of treatment and prevention in a YMCA will make this new facility very distinctive. Not only will this expand the continuum of Metro's care, it will also allow us to tailor programs to the community, improve outcomes for patients with chronic disease and assist in preventing disease."

Faas said when the hospital began construction on MetroHealthVillage in 2003, one of its key goals was to bring the "medical fitness" concept to Grand Rapids

"This partnership brings us so much more — it fulfills the goal of developing the Village to help individuals lead healthier lives and it extends our collective reach further into the community," he said.

Ron Nelson, president and CEO of YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids, said only a handful of YMCAs across the country have partnered with hospitals to provide programs and services that integrate traditional fitness components with health management.

The new YMCA and all the other 40-plus buildings that will eventually make their home in MetroHealthVillage will be built to LEED standards. MetroVillage is believed to be the largest mixed-use LEED development of its kind.