The Medical Fitness Podcast
Welcome to our podcast! Our goal is to provide you with principle and evidence-based content on all things related to exercise science, strength and conditioning, medical fitness, and building the bridge between medicine and fitness. Jeff Young, Thomas Hammett, and David Flench have a passion for and an expertise in connecting the fields of healthcare and fitness, and are excited to host industry leaders and subject matter experts for informative interviews, as well as occasionally bring you solo material. We hope you enjoy listening!
The Medical Fitness Podcast
Season 3, Episode 14 - Veronica Lopez YMCA
🏥💪 A Certified First in Medical Fitness: How One YMCA is Reshaping Community Health
🎙️ In the latest episode of the Medical Fitness Podcast, we sat down with Veronica Lopez, RN, Vice President of Health Strategies at the YMCA of Greater Brandywine—the first YMCA in the country to become Medical Fitness Association certified.
Hosted by David Flench, President and CEO of the MFA, this episode is a playbook for any organization looking to elevate their impact, credibility, and partnerships in the health continuum.
What you'll learn:
🔹 How a vision became reality: Veronica explains how her team took a bold idea—positioning the Y as a legitimate healthcare ally—and executed it across nine branches.
🔹 Behind the scenes of MFA certification: From culture shifts and weekly task-force meetings to scoring a 97+ on the audit, this is the blueprint for making medical fitness real in a community setting.
🔹 Why now?: With healthcare access gaps, transportation deserts, and chronic disease on the rise, the Y leaned in—not away—and created solutions like the Fit Truk, a mobile fitness and screening center.
🔹 What’s next? “Prescribe the Y” is launching soon, powered by encrypted EHR and real clinical referrals. Their team of certified professionals (mostly NASM) is trained, connected, and ready.
🔹 Key takeaways for leaders:
Don’t wait for the perfect time—start with your “why.”
Create cross-functional teams and track progress visually (think: red-yellow-green dashboards).
Certification isn’t about checking a box—it’s about credibility, partnerships, and long-term sustainability.
A certified facility gets a real seat at the healthcare table.
Whether you’re in healthcare, fitness, public health, or community leadership, this episode shows what’s possible when standards meet passion—and when strategy meets service.
👇 Tag a clinician, YMCA leader, or fitness professional who needs to hear this.
