Ingrid Cullen at FitX GymAs Team Leader, and on behalf of the entire Health Promotion Unit at ACON's Positive Living Centre, I would like to acknowledge fitness instructor Ingrid Cullen for the important contribution she has made to the success of our Healthy Life Plus program and to the larger PLWHA community. Over the years Ingrid has devoted much of her time and skills to promote welfare and a sense of community among PLWHA.
With more than 20 years in fitness, Ingrid has also been closely involved with the positive community for much of that time. She began her longstanding involvement with FitX Gym in 1991, where she has helped develop a safe and supportive fitness and exercise environment for the people with HIV.
She also coninues to be a valued contrubutor to Talkabout magazine through her fitness advice column, 'Ask Ingrid'.
She began her involvement in the Healthy Life Plus program as a volunteer in 2001, delivering workout and fitness seminars to participants, and focusing on exercise as an intervention in HIV maintenance. Having worked extensively with positive clients, she was a natural choice to take on the role of fitness instructor to the course participants, and quickly became a key member of the team.
Since then her down to earth, friendly nature, tireless efforts and intutive grasp of the clients' needs has helped over one hundred participants, many of whom often face daunting challenges when they begin to re-engage with the larger workout community, a potentially intimidating group.
At each dinner celebrating the completion of the Healthy Life Plus course, Ingrid is consistenly marked for special thanks, receiving the heartful gratitude and appreciation of virtually every participant involved. I would now like to also add our profound thanks. I can honestly say that the program's success can in large part, be directly attributed to her personal commitment, tireless efforts and the unique understanding she brought to the table. She will be greatly missed.
Ron Tripp
