The Jennie M. Melham Memorial Wellness Center in Broken Bow is improving the lives of its members.

The facility is home to more than 1,000 members from across the county who want to keep their health in check.

Custer County residents take steps to a healthier lifestyle.

“I'm always excited for summer to come because I usually go out and walk and I enjoy being outside but it is wonderful to be able to come over here and walk in the winter time,” says Rose Ann Albracht, Broken Bow,

Rose Ann is one hundreds of clients who uses the Jennie Melhan Wellness Center in Broken Bow.

“I got to where I couldn't sleep and I was getting headaches. My chiropractor here in town told me I had pinup energy from the lack of not doing anything so that's another motivation to come down here,” says Ken Simonson , 67 yrs. old Broken Bow.

It's a facility that originally came to fruition in 1989 thanks to a generation donation in the amount of $100,000 from a local avid tennis player.

“Colonel Steve Marchek provided the funding to build tennis center for our community. We had a wellness center in the basement of the hospital a number of years ago and we went ahead and moved that,” says Mike Steckler, Melham Memorial Medical Center Pres./CEO.

The facility 4600 square foot opened in May of 2012.

“A lot of people are here to socialize and they have so much fun together,” says Deb Miller , Jennie M. Memorial Melham Wellness Center Dir.

“I sleep and I feel better so that's the main reason I do it. Plus I've always had the philosophy it is not how long you live it's the quality of life when you get there (laughs),” says Simonson.

The keyless entry facility is twenty four hours.

The majority of the equipment was purchased using a $20,000 donation from the JMMMC Auxiliary.

Other donors such as Go Figure Fitness donated $18,000 worth of equipment before they closed their doors.