Personal Fitness Trainer
A priority for Dr. Glenn Feltham in assuming the role of president was to develop healthy eating and exercise habits from the outset. As he noted, “NAIT and I were born in the same year – but NAIT’s holding up better.”
Like other leaders of large and complex organizations, Dr. Feltham understands the importance of health in being an effective leader and has decided to make health and fitness a priority.
To help him with this quest, Dr. Feltham teamed up with NAIT’s Personal Fitness Trainer program staff, who completed physical and nutritional assessments, including VO2 max testing, a definitive measure of fitness.
“To be perfectly honest, I was kind of nervous, knowing there would be many tests – some very hard. I was actually quite pleased to find that I did well on a few of them. On the strength test, I scored an eight out of eight."
Personal fitness trainer Kevin Murray, a 2009 graduate of the NAIT program, will work with Dr. Feltham over his first eight weeks and instructor Karena Apps Eccles will design a nutrition plan.
“His blood pressure and heart rate are good, and he’s strong – for a man his age,” says program chair Leanne Telford. “But his flexibility is poor, his diet needs work and he needs to be much more active. He has a lot of catching up to do.” Dr. Feltham is excited even though he knows he faces a challenge in getting back in shape.
EMT-Paramedic
Dr. Feltham joined Emergency Medical Technology – Paramedic program students in two simulations; a simulation is a learning tool that recreates real-life experiences in a controlled, safe environment. One scenario was a stabbing in a bar fight in the student lounge, The Nest, and the other was a simulation of an executive having a heart attack in the President’s Boardroom.
Playing the role of fire captain in the bar fight simulation, Dr. Feltham worked alongside paramedic students and helped to ventilate the victim.
Participating in the simulation gave him a greater understanding of the relevance of NAIT programs.
“If someone is having a heart attack, it’s going to be someone from NAIT that saves you. Ultimately there’s a doctor somewhere along the line, but that first response, that’s NAIT,” he says.
At the end of week one, how did our president fare? “I’m pumped. I’m really looking forward to getting to understand a lot more about other aspects of NAIT. There are so many cool things happening here.
“In each activity I’ve done, I came away not only with a far greater appreciation for what our students go through and an understanding of how strong our programs are, but also a broader sense as to where that activity fits within our institute and our society. I look forward to telling Alberta and the world about the great things we do at NAIT.