First ever health festival coming to West Island

By Kevin Woodhouse
www.thesuburban.com

The West Island will be introduced to a new type of festival this fall with the launch of the first ever W.I. Health Festival taking place at the Dollard des Ormeaux Community Centre on Saturday, Sept. 27 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

The new event is being put together by SGS Fitness, a local company that has been operating for the last decade.

“Being healthy is a strong concern for the Quebec population,” said Jonathan Kerr of SGS Fitness. “Over the years, clients have told me that it is sometimes hard to get access to information when it comes to our health so this event is a one stop for one on one help with doctors, dietitians, health professionals and pharmacists.”

Some of the topics to be covered at the event, hosted by radio personality Barry Morgan, are disease and stress prevention as well as Attention Deficit Disorder.

Guest speakers will include Mc Gill University’s Dr. Joe Schwartz.

Kerr began the non-profit SGS Fitness when, working as a personal trainer, he noticed “a lack of awareness when it comes to the benefits of an active lifestyle,” explained Kerr, who holds a degree in Exercise Science from Concordia University. “According to Forbes, 61.1 per cent of Canadians have a Body Mass Index of at least 25. In children, obesity has substantially increased in the past 20 years.”

“I believe that promoting physical activity and well-being is essential to West Island families, who are combating an ever-increasing level of obesity,” noted Kerr.

The first ever West Island Health Festival is taking place Saturday, Sept. 27 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at the DDO Community Centre, 12001 de Salaberry in Dollard des Ormeaux. To find out more about the free family event, go online at www.wihf.ca.
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i[‘GoogleAnalyticsObject’]=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,’script’,’//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js’,’ga’);

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-45892555-1’, ‘auto’);
ga(‘send’, ‘pageview’);