Fit & Fun events offer more variety
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — As part of the organization’s commitment to community health, The Aroostook Medical Center is offering and promoting healthy, fun activities for individuals and families throughout 2016.
For the past two years, TAMC has been the driving force behind a “Fit & Fun” series that ran primarily in the summer through early fall and encompassed many of the 5K races and walks happening in the region. These included the Colors of Courage, which raised money for cancer patients, and the Monster Dash, which supported TAMC’s County Dialysis Center. The series was a regional winner of the Empower Award 2015 from the Wellness Council of Maine.
This year that series has a whole new look and feel to it, according to Jamie Guerrette, community engagement specialist at TAMC.
“While this has been a great program and a great partnership within the racing community, we really felt we needed a new direction this year,” she explained. “Our goal behind programs such as this is always health oriented. We want to encourage more families to get active together and adopt lifelong physical activities. We also wanted to offer activities throughout all four seasons and to help make sure cost isn’t a roadblock.”
Fit & Fun will now feature a wide variety of activities throughout the year. As in the past, some events in the series will be activities that are happening in the community already but that TAMC will help to promote, while others will be sponsored directly by the hospital.
The winter edition of the series is now underway. Some of the free activities include ice skating at the Forum on Jan. 31 and Feb. 21 from 1-3 p.m. (including free access to skates); snowshoe hikes on February 6, 20 and March 3; and a Ladies Rock Wall Night at the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Feb. 25 from 6-8 p.m.
“We are committed to helping people in our community be healthier. What better way than to give them a free introduction of some of the great activities available in our community. Most of these activities are fairly low cost, so if it is something they find they enjoy, they can continue to do it on their own,” said Guerrette.
TAMC is also sponsoring three skill levels of classes on Saturdays and Sundays at Bigrock, along with a Wicked Cheap Wednesday Corporate Night, which allows families to come ski and snowboard for an evening at a discounted rate on tickets, equipment rentals and lessons in hopes of engaging them as lifelong skiers.
Fit & Fun will promote many other opportunities in the community for healthy fun, including UMPI’s Gentile Hall’s 10th anniversary activities on Feb. 6, Take It Outside/Winter Family Fun Day at the Aroostook State Park on Feb. 20, the Mars Hill Recreation Department’s indoor walking, Quoggy Jo ski opportunities and more.
For a full listing of activities visit www.tamc.org. Organizations wishin to add an event to the Fit & Fun schedule can do so by contacting Guerrette at jguerrette@tamc.org or 768-4008.
