Rural Fit: Delivering personalized care strategies to Australia
Founded on the belief that movement and exercise is the ultimate medicine, Rural Fit empowers its clients to achieve a greater independence and performance at home, work and in their community.
The company aims to provide high quality exercise physiology and sports science services so individuals do not have to travel to larger cities, and the team’s mission is to inspire and develop the freedom, value and movement of being.
From Mishap to Success
Andrew Mahony, managing director of Rural Fit, did not always work in the field of health care. In fact, it was not until he personally suffered a calamity that he decided to change his career and inspire others to become stronger individuals, both mentally and physically.
“I spent some time doing other jobs,” said Mahony, “and then I became quite sick myself. I suffered from stroke-like symptoms and spent time learning to walk and talk again, which was a light bulb moment for me.”
This experience allowed for Mahony to transfer a feeling of self-achievement to Rural Fit’s clients.
“By having those experiences, it forced a greater vision out of me and also I suppose a greater dissatisfaction with what I’ve seen and what I’ve experienced,” added Mahony. “It’s reflected in everything we say and do [at Rural Fit].”
Through the mindset of making decisions based on a person’s being rather than solely focusing on the services and products they provide, Rural Fit extends the message that external materialistic distractions hinder the development of personal freedoms to its clients. “Rural Fit extends the message that injury, illness and medical conditions impact on the personal freedom of movement to its clients,” said Mahony. Therefore, Rural Fit simplifies its approach to well-being.
“There are so many people working in the health industry so there are always new exercise programs,” said Mahony. “We bring it back to simplifying and assisting the client to come up with their own health plan to make sure they can use their equipment and things like the environment – such as a park bench or a crowbar – or when traveling, getting a gym membership. We try to be innovative with the equipment and the environment around [our clients] to really simplify what people, I think, tend to overcomplicate.”
The Tie Between Work and Play
Rural Fit encourages graduates who are Accredited Exercise Physiologists (AEPs) to join the company’s team and extend the company’s vision. By allowing its team members to be creative in developing personalized programs, Rural Fit is able to deliver the best care approach for every client.
“We encourage risk-taking, within our clients and our culture,” explained Mahony. “We want [our team] to come up with ideas and programs. We also share a lot of our operational information and make our team aware of decisions we’re making and how it is impacting the business.”
“We want to make sure that we link our business goals with the personal goals of our team members,” added Mahony.
By working closely with its team members, Rural Fit is able to achieve a work-life balance for every employee.
“What we like to do is encourage [our team] to build up,” said Mahoney. “We make their lives very meaningful and connect it to their personal beings.”
Looking Ahead
Entering 2015, Rural Fit is planning to continue to form relationships with universities.
“We have a very strong student induction program where we take 40 students each year,” said Mahony. “It’s an important part of recruitment which is also an important part of developing our industry to diversify our health disciplines.”
Technology will also be a major factor in the business’s strategies that will expand within coming months.
“As far as we are looking, next year is going to be a big year in using technology,” said Mahony. “To automate the system, we’ll probably move away from our current server and on to some other applications that we’ve been trying.”
