Macon Health Club closes, members not happy

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – “It’s not something to be shut down lightly,” said Dave Oedel. “As a member I feel disappointed, I feel that Navicent Health is making a very big mistake.”

He’s a professor, lawyer, and a member at the Macon Health Club. The club closed its doors after decades of serving the Macon community. To Oedel, it was more than just a place he could get a workout in.

“This institution has been something of a part of Macon’s history in terms of race relations,” said Oedel.

The four-story building was built to be a YMCA, a segregated YMCA, until the early ’70s when the Macon Health Club took over. Oedel says the club was a milestone for integration in Middle Georgia. As the years went by, the club changed owners, but one thing stayed the same.

“It’s the most integrated institution in Macon, it’s a very unusual place where blacks and whites come together,” said Oedel.

Navicent Health bought the health club in 1991 and promised to run it until it was no longer feasible. That day came.

Navicent shared this statement with us.

“Navicent Health is fully committed to investing in the health and wellness of the communities we are privileged to serve, providing more than $80 million in community benefit last year. As part of this commitment, for 26 years we have expended significant resources to the operation of The Macon Health Club, including spending millions of dollars to improve the facility.

Unfortunately, throughout this time period, The Macon Health Club’s membership has continued to decline resulting in significant operating losses.  It has never been financially viable, and it is no longer feasible for Navicent Health to continue to subsidize the facility. We have a responsibility to be good stewards of our financial resources in order to fulfill our primary mission of serving our patients with excellent care.

Fortunately, many members of the Macon Health Club are also members of The Wellness Center, Navicent Health where we have world-class exercise facilities.  As a health care organization, a priority is to make sure the members of The Macon Health Club have access to a center that will help them maintain active, healthy lifestyles. We have offered The Macon Health Club members a free month trial period at the Wellness Center and it is our hope that they will accept our offer.

In the meantime, since we are now in litigation, we are not in a position to comment extensively about the situation.  However, we do want to point out that throughout our long history in Macon, we have and will continue to do all that we can to improve the quality of life in a place we are proud to call our hometown.”

James Webb has been a member since the ’80s, and believes Navicent did not do enough to keep the facility running.

“They have essentially driven it into the ground and it seems to be intentional frankly from my point of view and many members’ point of view,” said Webb.

“We made an offer, the members, to bring it back to a YMCA, get national funding, regional funding, local funding, put it back in take it off their hands, pay them for whatever is reasonable and they refused,” said Oedel.

Navicent says they are trying to do what’s best for the community and the hospital.

Until then, Oedel and other members will push to have the club re-open.

“We’re going to have to continue to pursue this and we’re going to be quite dogged about it,” said Oedel. “We’re not gonna quit easily.”

Macon Health Club President, Jim Marshall says both entities clearly have different views and he hopes they can come to a compromise soon.

Navicent Health and Macon Health Club are taking this to court. On Friday, the judge will decide to give whether or not to re-open the club for a period of time until Navicent Health and Macon Health Club come to an agreement.