Miller and Hildebrant grateful for Ability360, staff
Mark Miller, former medical facility architect, and Joan Hildebrant, former federal ombudsman, are celebrating their 33rd wedding anniversary in August; they will also be celebrating their 6th month as members of Ability360.
Miller and Hildebrant are both retired and have lived in Mesa, AZ for 17 years.
Miller discovered Ability360 when he took a tour while attending a workshop at the facility.
“We went to a workshop at Ability360’s main building,” Miller said. “The manager invited people to take a tour around the whole facility that I had never seen before. I came through the fitness building and I thought it was superior to any fitness center I have seen.”
Miller and Hildebrant take a wide variety of classes together including Pilates, corrective exercises, stretching, water classes, and SilverSneakers. Sometimes they can be at the fitness center for three or four hours a day.
“I believe that your mind works with your body,” Hildebrant said. “The connections that these classes make have just been phenomenal for me. It strengthens everything that you learn in rehab, it just strengthens it all.”
Hildebrant said she first came to Ability360 as a wheelchair user. She no longer needs her chair anymore and is continuously improving her walking.
“Everything they taught me at rehab is enforced (at Ability360),” Hildebrant said. “Between the equipment and the classes, I never take a break.”
Miller said Ability360 is an ideal facility to go to.
“At our age, being retired, we were so busy and giving so much to our professional lives that we didn’t have time to exercise,” Miller said. “Now that we really need it going into retirement… this works out great.”
Miller and Hildebrant say the staff is what makes Ability360 great.
“There are only a few facilities in the nation that compare, and could compete with this facilities’ quality of environment, extensive equipment, and the highly trained educational staff,” Miller said.
Miller and Hildebrant said they have a wide variety of instructors because of the diversity of classes they participate in.
“I think we have experienced (all of the instructors),” Hildebrant said. “They all have their own individuality, they all train differently, but they have one thing going for them; they all know how to work with adaptiveness.”
Miller and Hildebrant said Ability360 is unique in the sense that the staff will reach out to the members.
“How many people call you and find out where you have been,” Hildebrant said. “When I went back to rehab and we hadn’t been (to Ability360) for a couple of days we got a phone call.”
Hildebrant said she and Miller have learned things at Ability360 that they would never have learned before.
“(Ability360) should have a motto that says, ‘experience life,’” Hildebrant said. “Because you really do when you come here.”
Christian Guerithault
Writer
Christian Guerithault is a Senior at Barrett, The Honors College at ASU. He majors in Sports and Media Studies through ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business. Christian is a native of Phoenix, Arizona and has two older brothers. He loves the NBA, NFL, soccer, and the UFC. Christian hopes to one day work in the front office of a professional sports team.