Eight years ago, Ann Evans was already having back issues. By the time she went to South Sudan Africa where she had built a school, she was in excruciating back pain. Steroids provided temporary relief. Back home, she endured a slow, difficult recovery from spinal fusion surgery and spent a lot of time “sitting around.” Last year she suffered from anemia and oxygen deficiency and got a pacemaker.
Those health challenges seemed to signal a huge life change for a woman who was one of the first nurse practitioners in North Carolina (license #61), earned a masters and doctorate in public health, and was the director of a center in Western Alaska. There she had trained natives to be primary care providers in their villages, based on a model started 80 years earlier during a tuberculosis epidemic. Ann had also maxed it out through post-retirement international service work after “I found my own tribe: Rotarians.”
When her health challenges surfaced, Ann and her husband had a full gym in their home on Lake Wylie, but Ann had no motivation to regain her past levels of strength and fitness. She and Carl, who also had the last name Evans, had met during the Vietnam era when she was an Air Force nurse, and he enlisted to become a medic. During their 54-year marriage, both healthcare professionals understood all the health issues that could be on the horizon as they traveled through their 70s and beyond.
In 2023 a residence became available at Southminster, and the couple proactively committed to it, but also kept their lake home. For convenience and camaraderie, Carl often worked out in Southminster’s gym. “I just did not feel the same engagement with the equipment that he did,” Ann said. “But that was before Southminster got Technogym.”
The Technogym Transformation
A leading company in the field of commercial and home gym equipment, Technogym is known all over the world as “The Wellness Company.” Its goal is to help develop the philosophy of fitness and well-being and turn it into a true lifestyle.
Ann said Technogym changed her life. “A lot of people look at big exercise machines and think they are for jocks, which is what my husband Carl and daughter Deanne were.” Her husband played tennis and basketball in college and was the first UNC freshman to win the ACC Tournament. Her daughter says soccer put her through college, and she was one of 50 women chosen to try out for the U.S. National Rugby team. Never a sports competitor like her family members, Ann was immediately drawn to Technogym because “they take you where you are. It’s so individualized—the machines measure your flexibility and strength and even show you the range of motion you should stay within.”
In essence, Technogym machines do everything for you, except work out. You tap a bracelet to log into them. They remember information such as your seat position and what pounds/kilos you’ve been using. They even provide feedback and milestones. Leaders and staff members at Southminster also appreciate all the customizations. As Communications and Public Relations Manager Susanne Shaw, a runner who never liked strength training, said: “This equipment makes it fun. Getting the ball to go up in the circle at the top of your screen gives you an immediate motivational challenge.”
A New Lease on Life
The technology behind Technogym has been motivational for Ann Evans. As her daughter Deanne said, “My mom had spent so much time on a laptop to save the world and make a difference that she had become sedentary. My dad and I kept encouraging her to be more active, to give back to herself for a change.”
Indeed, getting moving again has been transformative for Ann. “Technogym has made it possible for me to snow ski again with my grandchildren — after a 25-year absence from the mountain. As I began using the equipment, I could feel my knees getting stronger. Now I’m totally reset physically and have less risk of falls. I don’t want to miss a day of my Technogym workout.”
Ann will be 82 in May, and just this past year, she was asked to be Major Gift Advisor on Health to the Rotary Foundation. “I still have a lot to do in the world. I am now in better physical and mental condition to take it on and continue to make an impact.”