Canyon Ranch Living, a six-acre oceanfront property in Miami Beach, Florida, featuring 151 luxury hotel suites and 467 condominium residences and traditional Canyon Ranch facilities and services, is scheduled to open in 2006.

"Canyon Ranch Living is the next step in Canyon Ranch's evolution. It is the fulfillment of our ongoing mission to inspire in each person a daily commitment to healthy living, and to provide the tools and knowledge to turn intentions into reality," says Zuckerman.

And that mission expands to spread the word about healthy living to benefit people of all ages, all walks of life and all levels of health - not just those who visit Canyon Ranch. The best and most efficient way to do this is to align with other high-quality health institutions and organizations that espouse the same initiative:

• Recently, Canyon Ranch forged an association with The Institute for Health & Healing at California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, the largest integrative medical center in the nation, to enhance the continuum of health services available in their respective communities. This unique collaborative venture will include faculty exchange and education, joint programming and referrals, workshops and lectures.

• Canyon Ranch and the Zuckermans have funded the Harvard Cancer Risk Index project at the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention, to develop a program designed to help people increase their ability to understand their risk of cancer.

• A healthy donation by the Zuckermans to the Arizona College of Public Health, whose mission is to promote the health consciousness of individuals and communities with a special emphasis on diverse populations and the Southwest. Programs concentrate on the reduction of health disparities, the development and maintenance of healthy communities and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.

"Many of today's prevalent lifestyle diseases, including some types of cancer, heart disease and diabetes, can be avoided by preventing excess weight, avoiding tobacco use, and adopting a healthy diet and increased physical activity - the same tenets supported by Canyon Ranch," says Zuckerman, who boasts the biological age of a man about 20 years younger than his chronological age of 76. "Our future incorporates the desire to significantly increase our society's focus on prevention and self-responsibility rather than just on disease care and management - through our own ventures and other significant affiliations."

The Zuckermans have achieved a great deal since Canyon Ranch's opening in December 1979. They have gorgeous resorts, many awards and a successful, growing business. Yet if someone asks Mel Zuckerman what is most satisfying to him, he quickly says: "My most gratifying moments are when guests tell me, 'I got it! Canyon Ranch helped me turn my life around.'

© SPA MANAGEMENT JOURNAL - JANUARY 2005

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