News: GoodLife Fitness announces collaboration with Peter Munk Cardiac Centre

This morning, I headed over to Toronto General Hospital with Editor-in-Chief Bonnie Munday for an exciting announcement: GoodLife Fitness has donated $5 million to develop a cardiac rehabilitation facility at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. A public/private collaboration, the facility, called the GoodLife Fitness Centre of Excellence in Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Medicine, is a first of its kind. Patients at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre will now have greater access to the latest cardiac rehabilitation and preventative techniques and equipment, as well as enhanced care that extends into the community. The research and knowledge gained at the GoodLife Fitness Centre of Excellence in Cardiovascular Rehabilitation will also be translated to GoodLife Fitness Clubs and cardiac rehabilitation clinics across the country.

According to the research program at Toronto Rehab, individuals who complete cardiac rehabilitation following a major heart event cut their risk of dying from another cardiac event by as much as 50 percent.

We spoke with David "Patch" Patchell-Evans, founder and CEO of GoodLife fitness to get a better understanding of what the partnership means to him.

"My competitors are always saying, ‘it’s about selling memberships.’ But I’m selling solutions," he told us, reiterating GoodLife’s longtime position on exercise as an important contributor to overall health.