Mayo Clinic today announced that it will double the size of the Mayo Clinic Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center on its downtown campus to provide patients with healthy living programs to improve their overall well-being. The expansion is made possible with a generous gift by long-time patient and philanthropist Dan Abraham, founder of Slim-Fast International.
The new expanded services will offer patients highly individualized healthy living guidance tailored to an illness or disease and disease risks and provide ongoing support aimed at prevention of future disease. The new services will be designed in partnership with the patient and their clinical provider to deliver the most cutting edge offerings possible within wellness.
“With the escalating costs of health care and the significant impact that many preventable conditions have on an individual’s productivity and enjoyment of life, it is critical to develop and assess innovative approaches to wellness. Research to determine the effectiveness of different approaches on the wellness of different groups of patients will be a key aspect of the programs,” says Patricia Barrier, M.D., medical director of Mayo Clinic’s Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
The expansion will complement the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center’s current programs that will continue to be limited to Mayo Clinic employees and their dependents. The expanded program services will be available to Mayo Clinic patients and the center will not be a gym or spa, nor will it increase access for community members to participate in exercise activities alone.
“The generous support by Mr. Abraham has improved the lives of our employees through the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center. Now, his same spirit of generosity and commitment to Mayo Clinic will more broadly touch all our patients,” says John Noseworthy, M.D., Mayo Clinic president and CEO. “We applaud and are grateful to Mr. Abraham for his long history of charitable giving to Mayo Clinic. This project would not be possible without his support.”
In the video below, Dr. Noseworthy offers comments about how this gift will “turn a dream into a reality.”
