Key Club rolls out program to achieve a healthy lifestyle

Longboat Key Club and Resort rolled out a Wellness Campaign in January to help members, guests and associates collaborate to get healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, socially and environmentally.

“There are many aspects to wellness … it (encompasses) everything,” Kristi Bonsak, director of wellness, says.

Each month, a different wellness series comprising four classes helps members and guests learn and do. For example, March’s series involved healthy eating, yoga, meditation and self-defense.

Once per month, a Dine-Around program teaches guests and members healthy eating at the various restaurants on the club’s campus.

The employees have had a similar wellness program initiated with the guests and members, led by Theresa Zupon, director of human relations. They have participated in “Lunch and Learn” sessions to talk about topics that further a healthy lifestyle. All of the employees are encouraged to participate in the wellness activities the club sponsors and are also given incentives to get healthy.

The club also has turned it into a friendly competition, “The Biggest Winner.” Managers are competing against members in a point-based competition to see who can be the healthiest. The managers and members are grouped into separate teams and earn points for doing things, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or ordering a side of vegetables, to name a few.

They earn more points for doing activities as a group. In fact, one managerial team, “Blonde Ambition,” has started using a fitness instructor for weekly sessions, as well as taking a weekly morning walk. Their goal is to encourage each other to be healthy and to continue down the same path after the two-month program ends.

A board of advisers, comprising members representing golf, tennis, fitness and the marina; a physician; an environmental expert; and a business leader, helps make decisions about what direction they would like the program to head.

Still in the first stages, the Key Club has already unveiled a variety of programs that makes it one of the first resorts in the world to implement a wellness program.