What It’s Like To Be An Exercise Physiologist At Longevity

Today, Longevity Exercise Physiology Drummoyne, Edgecliff, Marrickville, Bella Vista, Randwick, Lindfield and Balmain step into the shoes of Jackie Cheung, the Exercise Physiologist at our Bella Vista location to what it’s like to work for Longevity—hear it from Jackie himself:

Having been a part of the Longevity team for over 8 months now, there have been numerous things that I’ve found to be infinitely rewarding for both my professional and personal life, which makes it difficult classify what I do as ‘work’ because there’s so much in it that resonates with me and my values. The things that have spoken to me the most is having the of privilege of meeting people from various walks of life and hearing their stories, impacting the lives of people for the better, being part of a team centred around culture and support and having endless opportunities for growth and development. These aspects of working for Longevity has built me up both as a person and a health professional, and so I thought to share my experience.

Meeting people and hearing their stories

Exercise is the single thing that anyone of age, condition and experience can be prescribed and can benefit from. As a result, our clientele can be highly varied and this gives us the chance hear everyone’s unique story—not just about their health, but also their family, interests, hobbies and aspirations. Being able get the perspective of someone else who has lived a completely different life to ourselves and developing meaning relationships with them has been extremely rewarding for me. The fact that we see elderly clients over the age of 70 with chronic diseases with little experience with exercise, all the way to 10 year-old kids with intellectual disabilities who are still going to school has connected me with people more than ever before.

We also develop close partnerships with other health professionals such as doctors, physiotherapists, dieticians and chiropractors. Connecting with them provides us with another outlook on a patient’s health pathway that may sometimes be beyond our scope, yet is highly important to understand in order to help clients reach their end goals.

Impacting the lives of others

As Exercise Physiologists, we prescribe exercise for clients who suffer from chronic diseases, injuries, those looking to better their exercise performance, or are looking for preventative care for their future health. This could mean helping a someone climb up stairs easier or gaining enough strength to be able to lift up their grandchildren. It could also be to control weight, blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels to prevent or manage conditions including cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers. It can even be getting someone able to run more efficiently or to increase their muscular strength.

At the end of the day, our ability to make a difference comes down to the helping people move better, feel better and live longer. Seeing this change happen in our clients is what gives me proud of being an Exercise Physiologist for Longevity.

Being part of a team

One of the best things being with Longevity is the team culture that we foster. Despite some of us working in separate locations, we always have constant professional development together, meet-ups, conferences and social events that keeps us tight-knit as a group. It is an absolute joy to be surrounded by like-minded people who you get along with, as well as being supportive and passionate about health at the same time. Everyone is just one-call away and there is never a time where we cannot reach out to each other.

Growth

If it is one thing that working with Longevity has reinforced in me, it is that there is always room to grow. Besides continued professional development, our mindset is to constantly improve on ourselves both from a clinical and professional standpoint. That is, there is always another book out there to read, another person you can get expertise from and another way you can grow together as a team. The fact that you know there is no ceiling is what keeps us moving and ultimately, this is what drives us towards our goals as a team.

Written by Jackie Cheung