Boandik Lodge Community Wellbeing Centre

Boandik Lodge Community Wellbeing Centre

Boandik Lodge Community Wellbeing Centre has opened the door for those of ALL abilities to exercise and maintain their health and fitness.

Built last year, but facing some delays because of COVID-19, and featuring a world class hydrotherapy pool and gymnasium, the Centre is available to be used by the wider community as well as Boandik aged care residents.

CEO Gillian McGinty told writer Nic Negronpontis that they are happy they got through the COVID-19 challenges and are now able to offer their services to EVERYone

“It’s been a challenging year for everyone, so the gymnasium has only been open for a short period when it was closed by COVID because we had to close due to  restrictions, so that did have an impact,” she said.

“Those people that were using the hydrotherapy pool and the gym were very positive about it before it was closed and they returned when it re-opened and both are expanding on a daily basis with around 250 people a week using the pool for aqua-fitness classes, external physiotherapy bookings and we are just continuing to extend our hydrotherapy pool to meet demand.

“We’re now open some evenings and hours in the morning and weekend as well, so we’re very much being responsive to the community and how they want to use the pool.”

McGinty said their hydrotherapy pool provided “true hydrotherapy” to users and they have the facilities to accommodate anyone wishing to use it.

“Our hydrotherapy pool is running at a temperature of 33 degrees, which is true hydrotherapy, so anything under that is a warm water treatment and isn’t as effective in penetrating deep into muscles and tissue as what a pool that runs at 33 degrees is as the defining factor is the temperature of the water.”

“People are using the pool to reduce pain, to assist with weight loss, to promote good sleep patterns, for strengthening prior to an operation and rehabilitation after and generally maintaining their mobility and being able to exercise in an environment that allows them to be mobile when they’re not on a hard surface.

Boandik Lodge’s state of the art Hydrotherapy Pool

“It’s been very positive feedback. Everyone loves the warm of the water and the environment around it and the ease of access because we have ramp access and we also have an overhead lifter so no matter what a person’s abilities are they are able to get to the pool and the flexibility in the times you can attend and the fact that we have free exercise equipment sitting there for them to use at any time.

“When we started researching the hydrotherapy pool and gymnasium the thing that we wanted to offer was access for any person, no matter what a person’s abilities are, they’re able to access the water and we have seen the benefits of hydrotherapy for people of all abilities.”

The Boandik CEO emphasises that the facilities are available to EVERYone in the wider community.

“The majority of people using it are from the outside community so we have some residents of our residential aged care homes using it a number of clients from the community that use it, some of our independent living unit people, but the majority of the people are just people who live at home and accessing it from the community.”

“We have a range of classes including aqua-fitness classes in the hydrotherapy pool and strength for life classes in our gymnasium as well as individual programs available for anyone who would like to register their interest and maintain their strength and fitness.”

You can find out more about the Boandik Lodge Community Wellness Centre on their website here.

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