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In 1993, while
still in her thirties, Julie Main was diagnosed with breast
cancer. Determined to fight the disease, Julie turned her
breast cancer diagnosis into a positive community effort,
helping launch the Cancer Well-fit Program. She has served
as a model to other cancer survivors to use exercise to
improve their own quality of life. In addition, she has
inspired her peers by having a successful community based
program. For her efforts IHRSA ( International Health
Racquet & Sportsclub Association) honoured her with the 1998
Presidents Award. She is the President of the California
Clubs of Distinction (the IHRSA regional group) and is on
the Board of Trustees for the Cancer foundation of Santa
Barbara.
Julie, together with Eric Durac, first started
the program in 1994 at the Santa Barbara
Athletic Club. Eric Durac is the Director of
Medical Health and Fitness in Santa Barbara,
California and has published many articles in
leading sports medicine journals. Among other
affiliations, he is a member of the American
College of Sports Medicine, Physicians Committee
for Responsible Medicine and the Cancer Control
Society.
Julie Main presently serves as the General
Manager for the Santa Barbara Athletic Club,
Ojai Valley Athletic Club, Cathedral Oaks
Athletic Club, and the Hills Swim and Tennis
Club. She visited South Africa as a guest of
HFPA in 1999 when she gave the first S African
presentation of the Cancer Well fit Program to
delegates at the HFPA Convention. This created
enormous interest and a recognition of the
need for this type of program in this
country.
The Cancer Well-fit Program
is a natural and wonderful step in the evolution
of health promotion. If there were ever a
program that improved health, created a link
between medicine and fitness and promoted a much
needed community effort, this program addresses
those needs. The world of fitness has been
looking for a program that gives them the
necessary tools to work with medicine in a
co-operative fashion. The changes in healthcare
today are forcing many practitioners to find
partners outside the traditional medical
environment in order to better serve their
patients in a cost-contained practice.
This course gives participants the best possible
edge in their recovery and enables Fitness
Practitioners to help cancer sufferers in their
own health club environment. An on-going
exercise system for cancer patients will help to
improve the quality and perhaps the length of
their lives, and to establish a good
relationship between oncologists and health
educators.
The Cancer Well-fit Program was recently awarded
the 1999 IHRSA Institute "Best Practice" award,
and qualifies as the top clinical health club
program worldwide. This award was sponsored
by TechnoGym USA.
HFPA has been appointed the exclusive licensee
(Africa) to present this exciting program. |
