Padua opens the first free gym for cancer patients and chronically ill patients

Padua opens the first free gym for cancer patients and chronically ill patients

Is called Show Care and it is one non-profit gym dedicated to free training for adults with oncological diseases And chronic non-communicable diseases who are advised to exercise regularly. It opened in Padua a unique space in Italy, in via Pinelli 4, and was born from the idea of ​​the founders of Show Health Training Club, Giorgio Leo And Vito Stolfi. It was announced in the autumn of 2020 after receiving initial support from the former Inter and National goalkeeper Francesco Toldo which in turn had committed the Municipality of Padua, through the Councilor for Sport Diego Bonavina, to collaborate in the initiative.

Despite the difficulties and slowdowns linked to the pandemic, the promises were followed by the facts and today also thanks to a series of fundraisers carried out in the two-year period by Show Club it has been possible announce and show the gym venue for the first time: «We wanted to immediately share this important moment: for us it is like seeing the green light after many months of forced stop – explained Leo and Stolfi – the apartment was recently handed over to us and we have already started with the preparation phase. We will do our best to make this space as welcoming and efficient as possible for our guests, whom we would like to start following for the end of September“.

Located on the first floor of the building, the gym will extend over 200 square meters and will have two large rooms equipped with cutting-edge machines and software as well as a space dedicated to free body, in addition to the services and dressing rooms available to guests. It will be able to accept at the same time 6-8 people who will be divided into mini-groups to then be scrupulously followed, exercise after exercise, by professional personal trainers made available by Show Club.

We will start with two openings a week but the hope of the founders is to have so many requests that they will have to extend the opening: “If there is a request we are obviously ready to open every day to accommodate as many people as possible. It would be the greatest satisfaction – added Stolfi – in this regard, as well as thanking Francesco Toldo for the moving trust he has given us and the institutions for the collaboration that we hope will continue to grow, we wish to thank the medical staff right now, local associations, the press and anyone who can help us to report this absolutely free service to the community that we have designed to meet especially the most complex and delicate situations ».

A moment of the presentation

The objective is in fact to equip the city of Padua with an innovative structure capable of help people in cancer follow-up (who, for example, have finished radio or chemo therapy) to recover physically through regular and absolutely sporting activity calibrated to your own conditions. The same is true for all those people who have a chronic non-communicable disease – from diabetes to heart disease – in the treatment of which exercise can really make a difference. An activity that also affects the psychological aspect: many studies show us that moving appropriately is an excellent ally in the fight against relapses.

Both Toldo and Bonavina were present at the presentation meeting: «Today these guys demonstrate that“ what is promised is kept ”. It should be the norm but we all know how rare it is to follow the concrete facts to the beautiful words. Instead, here is everything. There is the dream, the vision, the professionalism, the knowledge and the bond with the territory and above all there is the altruism to make one’s know-how available to those who need it. IS the essence of doing business for the social; without social security there is not even the company »explained the beloved European vice-champion of 2000 and historic number 1 of Fiorentina and Inter.

The Paduan administration has made the project available the property where the service will take place: «We are the second city in Italy to support sport: an attention that cannot ignore supporting similar initiatives that promote regular physical exercise for the most vulnerable people. Show Care should be a pilot project to be replicated on the national territory and credit should be given to the founders for the vision and resources made available to the community. The one announced today is a proud project for the whole of Padua and we Institutions have the task of continuing to support it », commented the councilor for Sport.

The opening of the gym in Padua is part of a large social enterprise project. In fact, confirming the sensitivity to the theme and the great commitment to the community that has always distinguished their Show Club company, Leo and Stolfi at the end of 2020 gave birth to a non-profit associationcalled Show Care, through which they intend to promote and raise awareness of the community on the most conscious and monitored practice of physical exercise closely linked to the concept of health of the person.

There is a lot of talk about prevention but too little about sport associated with health. Yet, the practice of regular and controlled physical exercise is the first step to take not only to cure oneself but first of all, to love oneself – concludes the entrepreneur – if on the one hand with the opening of this first center in Padua we want helping those who are already living in a complex situation such as that of an illness in progresson the other hand, we wish to launch a series of non-profit initiatives in the area to stimulate a new sensitivity and greater attention to the issue, which in fact has enormous – economic and social – impacts on the entire country system. We want to dialogue first of all with the younger generations who can really change the face of the entire community by becoming themselves spokespersons for a new, absolutely “appealing” lifestyle ».

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Source: Vanity Fair