Hello Everyone:

We had about 50 dedicated people protest with us in front of the Edward Health and Fitness center this past Saturday.  Thank you!  We had several members provide impact statements.  The personal accounts of long-time members who are older and have disabilities drove home that EHFC is a community of caring people and that Seven Bridges, and a much more crowded Seven Bridges, is not a substitute.  

Is Northshore/Edward Upholding their own Values?

Following are Northshore's Mission, Vision, and Values as published on their website as of today. Please read and ask yourself if the abrupt closure of EHFC with zero public input demonstrates that the company can be trusted to uphold them:

Mission

 Help everyone in our communities be their best.

Vision 

Safe, seamless and personal. Every person, every time.

Values

Act with Kindness - Meet people where they are and show empathy through listening

Earn Trust - Act with integrity and accountability to earn and maintain trust

Respect Everyone   Champion diversity, equity and inclusion for all through mutual respect

Build Relationships - Develop meaningful connections that have a positive impact on everyone who crosses our path

Pursue Excellence - Seek out ways to keep learning and growing so we can deliver the best care to all, every time

The abrupt closing is disproportionately negatively affecting the older members of our community. The anticipation of the closing is already hurting members through increased stress. 

A recent schedule released by Edward shows that many of the classes geared towards older people of our community will be cancelled since there is not enough pool space at Seven Bridges.   This indicates that Edward's assertion that scheduling changes can compensate for the fewer overall resources by compressing two facilities to one is not a viable solution.  Also please remember that that the locker rooms are much farther from check in at 7B which will make it more difficult for older and disabled members to even access the facilities.

And remember, we will all be old some day, so by rejecting the well-being of the older members of Naperville, Northshore/Edward is rejecting ALL of us.

Less opportunity to exercise means more illness and injury which leads to higher medical costs, lower productivity and higher insurance rates for everyone.

Please Speak or Attend the Next City Council Meeting

We plan to again have several speakers at this Tuesday's City Council Meeting (March 21, 2023) at 7pm.  Here is the link to sign up (you must sign up by 6:55 pm). If you don't want to speak, you can just show up.  You do not need to stay the whole time to have an impact.  The public comment session is near the beginning of the meeting and usually takes about an hour.  

Only by showing our continued, significant support for keeping EHFC open will we achieve our goal.

Press on!

- Steve