The Vanderbilt Dayani Center for Health and Wellness is adjusting its focus since its recent alignment with the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, but is keeping its emphasis on excellence and national leadership in medical fitness.
A few weeks ago the center received word that it has been recertified — with an outstanding score of 97.8 percent — by the Medical Fitness Association (MFA), a credential achieved by only 44 of approximately 1,200 hospital fitness centers in the United States. Dayani was first certified in 2010, and was the first center in Tennessee to achieve the credential.
“It’s a high level of achievement,” said Jay Groves, Ed.D., administrative director of the center, who is now a Certified Facility Examiner for the MFA.
Groves also noted that the rigor of the survey and site visit by representatives of the MFA, including examinations of medical oversight, quality management, pre-activity screening, risk management, emergency response, membership and clinical programs, serve to remind and motivate everyone at the Dayani Center.
“It makes us better,” he said.
Other ways the Dayani Center is getting better are tied to its relationship with the Medical Center’s newest department, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R), which was founded in 2012 under the leadership of Walter Frontera, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair.
“As we put together this new academic department, we’ve been interested in establishing collaborations and links with other departments at Vanderbilt,” Frontera said. “Dayani offers a lot of clinical programs that have a rehabilitation focus. This integration of Dayani with PM&R is important to both.”
Mark Cianciolo, executive director of Corporate Health and Provider Network Development, who has administrative responsibility over Dayani, applauded the connections between Dayani and PM&R, and noted that the corporate wellness services offered by the center were also a key element of the evolution of Dayani’s direction.
“It’s more of a strategic alliance,” he said. “The Dayani Center has a culture and environment for fitness, but more the feel of a medical facility. We want to continue to do health promotion and wellness, strengthen the ties with PM&R, and offer medical fitness services.”
Cianciolo also noted the connections the center has with the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt University, and said that a connection with other areas of VUMC, including the Medical Weight Loss center at Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks, would also serve to use the expertise of Dayani’s staff and programs.
“The Dayani Center has great programs with great people,” he said.
On the education front, Frontera said that all those who pass through PM&R for training will spend time at Dayani; on the research front, that the Dayani facilities and staff were ideal collaborators with PM&R faculty to study how to improve care and outcomes; and that on the patient care front, more patients at the Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital, such as those with spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, amputees and those with Parkinson’s disease, would benefit from enhanced programs.
Groves pointed out several new offerings, including a weekly strength and sculpt class for wheelchair users, that demonstrate how the center is keeping the best of its heritage while continuing to move in new directions and maintaining an emphasis on excellence.
“When you come in here, you are coming into the best,” he said.
