A project that starts from afar and evolves from pure fitness to medical, placing the customer-patient at the center of the journey, to assure him or her the best. This is the synthesis of an evolved model where gymnasium and medical center come together, leveraging the overall strength of excellent and cohesive members, led by Fabrizio Sante Fernando Serena, and a team with whom goals and paths are punctually shared to raise the bar of quality and service. A successful project that is ready to be replicated in its entirety: from Assisi to Terni, Palestra Epyca and CTF Medical could be the references of exercise and health in the Umbria Region.
What is Epyca for you, founded by you and your partners, enhanced by the many pluses that connote it and which we ask you to summarize?
The Epyca Gymnasium is an extension of a project that started way back in 1987: back then it was a youth club that had a small gym inside called Free Time CTF, then in 1992 we moved to a much larger facility in the center of Santa Maria Degli Angeli (Assisi) where inside, in addition to the gym, there were physical therapists and a dance school. At the time it already turned out to be an innovation to unite these types of activities.
Physical well-being and health is the secret to a healthy life
Fabrizio Sante Fernando Serena
Epyca gym also dsitingue to be official Hammer Strength center
In 2010 a radical transformation took place and Epyca was born: a new organizational structure where there were two instructors Massimiliano Perfetti and Daniele Feliciotti, along with myself, Gianni Beddini and Stefano Roscini. From there a technical project started, but limited by the small space compared to the original idea, we decided in 2016 to move creating the new and current structure. We have, and this was suggested by partner Perfetti, immediately thought of making a quantum leap by including in the body building room the Hammer Strenght machines, a choice that in 2016 experienced the greatest success. From here we made a difference because in addition to that we created ad hoc rooms such as one for spinning one for martial arts and one for fitness classes.
When and why did you add further value to your fitness center by partnering it with CTF Medical, resulting in the best that a client or patient could ask for today?
The new CTF Wellness, a facility established in 2016, had on the second floor the EPYCA gymnasium with about 1,100 square meters and, initially on the ground floor, a beauty center, a dental clinic, and a physical therapy business, run by a third party. The CTF Wellness Board in early 2019 made the decision to take back the premises, as we had leased them out.
In 2016, we aimed to create an innovative medical and physical therapy center to offer a person a complete wellness pathway
Fabrizio Sante Fernando Serena
It was a difficult and challenging path, but the idea of developing a center with a concept driven mostly by the same actors was crucial for me. The idea, with my partner Stefano Roscini, was to create an innovative medical and physiotherapy center that went with wellness i.e. wellness. The concept, then, was to be able to offer a person a complete wellness path.
This is where it all started, we held interviews for new partners and immediately found dreamers: partners Rita Nardone and Gianluca Cappelletti, as well as myself and my faithful friend Stefano Roscini creating CTF Medical Srl. In the year 2020 we all know what happened.
The rehabilitation pool at CTF Medical
We did not lose heart; in fact, we immediately realized that the choice to target the health care field was the right one, and mentally we tried to sense what the new reality of Covid brought; the first thing we did was to set up an outdoor gazebo to dispense the tampon service, also having a large parking lot, and from there we began the journey of CTF Medical. The period was harrowing but we used it to work out health plans and it took off from there. By the end of 2020, with much effort, we had already acquired the professionalism of about thirty doctors, in the various specialties, and five physical therapists. The facility was growing despite the closures: still we could work and continued to design services. By the end of 2021 we were active with many new services like pulmonology consonant with the time we were living. In 2022, we began to think about another step and found Radiological Torino as a partner to activate radiology. In the same year, the collection point and rehabilitation pool started up in a major way. In 2023 with the right insight we proceeded to another and final leap by creating an outpatient surgical clinic by including endoscopy as well.
Epyca Gymnasium provides a wellness service and carries out a ‘training activity, CTF Medical carries out a ‘health activity involving protocols in physiotherapy: mutually complete the service reserved for the customer
Fabrizio Sante Fernando Serena
How do the two distinct but converging facilities interact, and what does a client find from you that they might not find in other gyms or medical-rehabilitation settings?
The answer is very simple: respect for the two activities, in service delivery. I try to explain myself better. The Epyca Gymnasium provides a wellness service and conducts a workout activity, CTF Medical conducts a health activity involving protocols in physical therapy. One helps the other in giving a complete service to the client. The example is the continuous interchange of opinions and relationships created between the various staffs: a patient from the medical center once rehabilitated can access the gym and begin a training or maintenance course, and vice versa an Epyca member who experiences any pain is immediately taken in for a quick and decisive history.
The staff of Epyca Gymnasium
Interview published in HA Wellbeingof January-February 2024. To read it in its entirety, continue on Wbox.co.uk
