Source: Asbury Park Press
The New Jersey Devils invest time and money in making sure their players are committed to maintaining good health. Now, the Devils are rolling out a plan to make sure that youth hockey players throughout the state are wise to the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
At a news conference, the renaming of the Prudential Center Devils practice facility as Barnabas Health Hockey House, its new logo, and the formation of the Fueling Healthy Athletes and Sports Nutrition Curriculum were announced. A stage was set up on the ice inside the practice arena for the three-time Stanley Cup champions, whose banners hung from the rafters in the background. Next to the stage was a Zamboni branded with the Barnabas Health slogan “Life Is Better Healthy.”
Barnabas Health will be conducting two clinics per year at each of the 33 hockey rinks in New Jersey affiliated with the Devils. Their staff of specialty physicians and nutrition and wellness experts will develop a program designed to promote optimal performance and good health, while building confidence, sportsmanship and life skills.
Devils CEO Scott O’Neil said, “When you get a little older, you certainly move from Big Macs to kale – and it’s quite a transformation. The face of healthcare is changing right before our very eyes.”
Barnabas Health president and CEO Barry Ostrowsky says the partnership is a shares mission “that includes the things we know in healthcare and the things the Devils know about building communities. In the healthcare industry, we’ve grown up just treating sick people. We’ve built great institutions and acquired the talents and skills of incredible clinicians who develop wonderful programs. But all of those are about people who are sick.
“The better mission — the mission that we’ve always had and just haven’t been able to execute effectively until recently — is, ‘Why don’t we stop people from getting sick? Why don’t we make sure they have better lifestyles?’”
“While that’s a bit of an intrusive approach to people,” Ostrowsky concedes, “we think if you believe life is better healthy than you won’t wait to get sick to know us and you’ll be able to interact with us as we try to explain different lifestyle choices, including your health.”