As part of its mandate to deliver quality education, and to ensure fitness and wellness of the University community, the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER), has inaugurated a “Fitness and Wellness Centre.”
Speaking at the ceremony, the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dora Francisca Edu-Buandoh, said the Centre would be of immense benefit to the University community by keeping staff and students healthy and productive at all times. “This comes at a time when everybody is becoming conscious about healthy living. Now, everybody thinks of what to put in the mouth but what we do not think about is how we exercise the body to distribute what we put in mouth to make our lives healthy,” she noted.
On behalf of the University Management, Prof. Edu-Buandoh congratulated the Department, Dean’s Office, the College of Education Studies and those who contributed to make the facility a reality. “I believe we will all make good use of this Centre and not leave it to only the students of HPER,” she urged. The Pro Vice-Chancellor appealed to everyone - lecturers, staff and students and unions to support the Centre in any capacity to maintain, sustain and expand it to serve its purpose.
Background to Fitness and Wellness Centre
Giving a background to the establishment of the Centre, the Head, Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, Dr. Daniel Apaak, said the facility was set up in the 2015/2016 Academic Year as part of requirements for the reaccreditation of the Sports and Exercise Science programme. He said though the Centre had been in operation for academic purposes, the Department had to beef up the equipment and also do some additional renovations before extending its services to the entire University community.
Dr. Apaak expressed appreciation to the former Head of Department, Prof. Joseph Kwame Mintah, for working tirelessly towards the initiative and upgrading of the Centre and also thanked the academic and administrative staff for their the various roles they had played to achieve this feat.
The Role of Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah
In his comments at the programme, the Dean, Faculty of Science and Technology Education, Prof. Joseph Kwame Mintah, commended the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, who was then the Provost of the College of Education Studies, for his immense contributions and support. “I will not take the glory alone, because I could not have put all these together as Head of Department, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah was actually the brain behind getting the machines for this facility,” he indicated.
UCC Needs a Large Fitness and Wellness Centre
Stressing on the need to have more of such facilities, Prof. Mintah appealed to the University Management to provide a ‘larger Facility’ where lecturers, staff and students could go and exercise, to enable them get well, better, fit and healthy.
The HPER Fitness and Wellness Centre has been equipped with various exercise equipment including, ergometer bikes, treadmills, weight power/exercise station, dump bells, exercise balloons and plastic step-up balls.
Amongst the dignitaries at the event were the Dean, Faculty of Educational Foundation, Prof. Eric Nyarko Sampson, and the Ag. GUSA President, Dr. Charles Domfe.