Bradley Wellness Center Celebrates 36 Years

The idea for the Bradley Wellness Center (BWC) came to life when local physician Dr. Paul Bradley read a magazine article about a California company that had reduced employee health care costs by focusing on wellness—including building a fitness center.

“When he finished reading the magazine, he took it in, put it on (then CEO Norman) Burkett’s desk, and said, ‘We need to look at this,’” recalled Patricia Edwards, Bradley’s daughter. “And the rest is history.”

Since its opening in 1986, BWC has undergone two renovations and multiple updates to its services. Today, the center offers a comprehensive array of services and amenities, including a 25-meter indoor pool, indoor and outdoor tracks, basketball and racquetball courts, wi-fi connected cardiovascular machines, weight machines, tennis and pickleball courts, sauna and steam rooms, volleyball court, childcare, senior programs, yoga and cycle studios, group fitness areas and more than 50 classes a week.

“In addition to being a wonderful facility for exercise and quality programming, the staff is devoted to making our members feel welcome and are always willing to help,” said Tammy Wilson, Member Services Supervisor and a BWC employee for 32 years. “The staff here is highly trained and certified in their particular skill. We are continuing to reach out and reconnect people with the recent COVID-19 situation.” 26 // October 2022

That outreach applies to new members as well as long-time ones like David Bobst, who said he gained 40 pounds during the pandemic when his regular routines were interrupted and replaced with more sedentary ones. But when the center reopened after a period of closure, Bobst began going to work out seven days a week and has now lost all the extra weight. At age 84, his motto is “use it or lose it.”

“It sounds so corny, but it is truthful,” he said.

Bobst sees fitness center membership as a highly effective strategy for preventing unnecessary visits for other services provided at the BWC facility. Those include Hamilton Cardiac Rehabilitation and Hamilton Bradley Whiteside Rehabilitation, where patients receive physical and occupational therapy. Hamilton Spine Health & Sport, focusing specifically on spine rehabilitation, and Hamilton Sports Medicine, providing certified athletic trainers to area schools, are also located inside BWC.

Bradley was known in the community as someone who both lived and promoted a healthy and active lifestyle. He was among several doctors who donated land to build the current Hamilton Medical Center in the 1950s, and he was the first physician on the hospital board. Bradley was also very humble, Edwards said, and was surprised when the wellness center was named after him.

“He would say, ‘Usually, when they name something after a person, it’s because they’ve given a lot of money or they’re dead.

I’m neither,’” Edwards said. “Helping to have the best medical care possible for his patients and everyone in the area was his top priority.”

Bradley graduated from Dalton High School and went on to study medicine at Emory and complete his residency at Grady, Edwards said. After medical school, he served in World War II and met his future wife Ann Quinlan, a nurse at a military officers’ club in California. The family eventually came back to the Dalton area— when Edwards was 4 years old.

In Dalton, Bradley worked in general practice and delivered many babies. In the early 1960s, he was working toward becoming a surgeon, and commuted from Atlanta to Dalton to teach for a year at Emory as a way to prepare for boards. He then completed his surgical residency at Piedmont Hospital.

When he returned, he and another physician opened Dalton Surgical, one of the first specialty practices in Dalton. He remained there until his retirement at age 65. Over his career, he also supported the Whitfield Healthcare Foundation, hospice services, Royal Oaks, and other hospital system endeavors.

“My dad loved this community,” Edwards said. “He was the third of five generations of doctors in our family. The first was his grandfather, Richard Smith Bradley, a country doctor here in Whitfield County and beyond. Dad remembered driving him in his horse and buggy to see patients. My son is the fifth, Dr. Bill Edwards of Pediatrics of Dalton.”

Bradley was also the sort of man who earned wide respect and was known to command attention while remaining humble. “When dad said something, the room was quiet to listen,” Edwards said. “He did have a terrific sense of humor as well, and loved to fish— that was his outdoor therapy.” He also enjoyed traveling out west to a dude ranch, going out on the lake, having cookouts, gardening, hiking and swimming, and spending time with friends and family. A favorite Bradley family tradition he started is that everyone gets a bag of vitamins and minerals for their 40th birthday.

“Dad was a quiet, thoughtful, selfless man who was willing to help anyone, anytime,” Edwards said. “Dad knew that such a facility (as BWC) would dramatically improve the quality of life for all of us. He was excited that half the building would be devoted to rehabilitation of patients after surgery or injury. The education services were and are a critical piece of the BWC vision. Everything a person needed to stay healthy would be under one roof and available to the average person. He was very pleased with that.”

Ricky Harrison, BWC Facility and Operations Manager, oversees the 70,000 square feet of space, which includes expansions completed in 1998 and 2015. The older equipment that was around when he first came on board has been replaced with treadmills and modern machines equipped with TV and internet access. Today, there are around 3,500 members. Memberships are beginning to increase again as more people venture back into their former routines, he said.

“Something a lot of people don’t know is we’re a communitybased fitness center and open for anyone to join—not just for rehab or therapy,” Harrison said. “We offer a wide variety of services and programs that cater to members from 12 to 90 years old.”

Popular offerings today include group fitness classes, the indoor pool, personal training, childcare, hiking, massage and acupuncture. Wilson teaches a course called Liquid Fitness, one of many popular offerings. BWC has recently added a pickleball court, and there are monthly cooking demonstrations and tastetests taught by a registered dietitian. As a way to better reach those over 50, BWC is launching Forever Fit, a program that will be available to members for free and non-members for $15 a month.

“My father understood the important relationship between physical and mental health,” Edwards said. “Bradley Wellness Center has set the standard for being proactive about health issues. My dream is that it continues to set the pace for being healthy and fit in our community.”

For more information about BWC, call (706) 278-9355 or visit bradleywell.com.