Seems like every city has a YMCA. I know I grew up playing floor hockey, learning to swim and taking part in afterschool activities at my local Y. I recently visited the Concord Y and received a tour from membership director Brian Brown. When I opened the door to the pool and took that first breath of humid, chlorinated air, I was immediately hit with a wave of nostalgia. The Y was a part of my childhood; there must be thousands of people dating back multiple generations who can say the same thing.
But the airborne aromatic nostalgia triggers don't hint at what is really in the air at the Y these days: change. Jim Doremus, a Concord cornerstone himself, as well as the Y's executive director, told me that there is more going on there than meets the eye.
“Everybody knows about (the Y), but I don't think people understand the range and scope of what we do now,” Doremus said. “We're really trying to strengthen the foundation of community through a focus on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.”
One program that embodies that statement is the InShape program, a joint program run by the Y and Riverbend Community Mental Health. People with severe mental illness have a drastically shortened life expectancy. The aim of the InShape program is to change that. By helping community members with mental illness to get in shape and stay healthy, the program goes a long way toward integrating participants into what we may consider everyday life.
“We've helped break down a little of the stigma surrounding mental illness,” Doremus said.
Doremus also cited its childcare facility (it is the largest child care provider in Merrimack County, and offers over $250,000 worth of scholarships and otherwise discounted child care every year), as well as an upcoming diabetes prevention program that he said “has real potential” as steps in the right direction for community health and well-being. But he probably didn't need to.
Walking around the facility, I was rarely greeted by anything less than a warm smile, whether it was from the staff, the members, or just a tiny child doing somersaults on a gym mat.
“If you want to just lift weights, not talk to anybody, and bang out your workout in 40 minutes and leave, there are better places for that,” Brown said.
I think he's right.
