RANGELEY — With new staff members at the Wellness Pavilion and a new executive director at the helm of the Rangeley Region Health and Wellness Partnership (RRHWP), the organization is poised to expand its community involvement.

Rangeley resident Jeff Hawksley has been hired as the director of fitness at the Wellness Pavilion. Hawksley, a certified personal trainer with the National Academy of Sports Medicine, will oversee all aspects of the fitness programming at the facility. He will also offer physical training classes, group training sessions and training for individual clients.

According to Hawksley the Wellness Pavilion is taking a proactive stance in striving to make changes that take into account the area and population the exercise facility serves year round.

“What we are trying to do is assess the needs of the region and design exercise and training opportunities that fit the goals and times of the community or client,” said Hawksley, who also holds certifications as a performance enhancement and corrective exercise specialist.

One new program Hawksley hopes will grow is called Fitness For Beginners, a class geared towards first time exercisers or those returning to an exercise program.

Joining Hawksley is fitness assistant Lindsay Perlson Richards. Richards holds a bachelor of science degree in early childhood education from the University of Maine at Orono. She will focus her efforts on developing exercise classes for children and structured activities for children whose parents are exercising. Richards has worked at the EcoVenture day camp program run by the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust.

“We’re really trying to get young kids involved. Basically this about getting kids interested in fitness. We want to develop good programs that target their interests,” she said. In addition to her duties as fitness assistant, Richards will oversee changes to update the RRHWP Web site with links to nutritional information and recipes. This fall, she will coach the middle school girls’ soccer team at Rangeley Lakes Regional School. She lives in Farmington with her husband Jacob.

Krista Perry was hired in August as the new executive director of the Wellness Partnership. She is a graduate of Colby College and worked for more than 12 years as a long term care administrator, added to a 28-year career in accounting and financial management in the nursing home, manufacturing and transportation industries.

Perry will oversee the operations at the Wellness Pavilion and the medical facility occupied by Rangeley Family Medicine on Dallas Hill Road. She will also serve as a liaison between HealthReach, the Waterville based organization that staffs Rangeley Family Medicine and Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, which runs the physical therapy program at the Wellness Pavilion.

In the short term Perry plans to see the Wellness Partnership increase and improve programs offered to senior citizens, fitness programs for local youths down to preschool age students and pursue joint grants with Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust to expand the EcoVenture program.

Plans to start the expanded outreach into the Rangeley area include offering educational programs for the elderly about health related issues they face along with functional fitness classes, such as chair yoga now being taught by certified instructor Sandy Panzella.

As part of the efforts to increase involvement in exercise by area youth, Hawksley will kick off a program in September with the cooperation of Rangeley Lakes Regional School physical education instructor Tom Danforth that will expose the students to the Wellness Pavilion and its programs.

For further information about the Wellness Pavilion, call 864-2900 or contact Richards by e-mail at [email protected].