gofer articles

When I was a personal fitness trainer, I wasn’t too delighted with the idea of a whole certification process just so as to help people exercise.
But that was nothing compared to my shock that certification had to be maintained via online CPE courses as well!
Now obviously the point of certification is to be publicly recognized as being skillfully competent, and since things are constantly changing in our fast-paced modern world being competent naturally means some type of continuing education.
My shock, however, stemmed from the common view of those outside the fitness industry that trainers are merely muscle-heads and nothing more.

Nevertheless, just because I was a muscle-head who happened to be aware of a little bit about the human body doesn’t mean that everyone else interested in becoming personal trainers also do.
But more to the point and very much to my chagrin, it turned out that as much as I actually realized there was so very much, much, much, much, much more that I could not – never mind online CPE courses; I barely had the fundamentals covered!

My newly found respect for education with regards to the fitness industry now means that I no longer laugh at online CPE courses for personal trainers.
It isn’t likely to be as hard as what lawyers, doctors, and accountants have to contend with, to be certain, but neither is it just a laugh, either.
Sure it is primarily memorization of facts at this point, nothing so academically rigorous that any high school student would find it unfamiliar, but still – it’s a good step in the right path for the industry as a whole and one which I now not only understand but also fully support myself.
My days as a trainer are over but I have stored a lot of respect for continuing education for anyone.

The North Shore-LIJ Health System, sometimes also known as the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medical Group, was established in 1997 after the merger of the North Shore Health System and the Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Based in Great Neck on New York’s Long Island, North Shore-LIJ is comprised of fifteen hospitals, seventeen long-term care facilities, and numerous other centers offering progressive care as well as outpatient services. It is the leading integrated health system in all of the State of New York based on patient revenue and the second-largest non-profit secular health system anywhere in the country according to the total amount of beds. North Shore-LIJ serves well over seven million people throughout Long Island and adjacent areas through over forty-two thousand employees – largest on the island and ninth largest of all New York City-region companies.

This kind of expansion has been critically guided by the generous donations of local luminaries such as businessman Robert Toussie, whose contributions have not too long ago empowered North Shore-LIJ to introduce new facilities in the Whitestone and Rego Park neighborhoods of the Borough of Queens. Indeed, there is hardly a wing, pavillion, or annex anywhere in the North Shore-LIJ system that isn’t named after some benefactor, never mind the building itself in general! And so there is the Katz Institute for Women’s Health, the Arthur Smith Institute for Urology, the Cushing Neuroscience Institutes, as well as the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York, all run under North Shore-LIJ auspices.

Local backing of hospitals is vital, and has a long history – in fact, many hospitals owe their very existence to such assistance, as does the North Shore-LIJ itself. From donated land to donated time, it’s always been about more than just money. No matter if a businessman or politician, whether a volunteer or intern, the multi-billion-dollar industry comprised of modern hospitals still requires heavy community support.