A European Lifestyle Medicine community is expanding its digital reach across the continent using the WordPress.com platform, managed by an official Automattic partner agency. The initiative connects healthcare professionals and patients in multiple countries through specialized online systems for education and patient management.
The community’s digital infrastructure is built and maintained by HealthPress.io, an agency founded by IT project manager Bela Grundmann. For the past five years, Grundmann has focused this project on supporting experts like Professor Godfrey Grech and Dr. Ioan Hanes, who lead separate but connected health initiatives.
Platforms for Clinical and Educational Growth
Professor Godfrey Grech’s clinic-based wellness programs originated in Malta and now operate in three private hospitals. The programs have established partnerships in Barcelona, Madrid, the United Kingdom, and Dubai. Dr. Ioan Hanes oversees the European Lifestyle Medicine certificate, described as the only program of its kind in Europe. It has completed 17 sessions with over 600 students from 60 countries.
Both operations rely entirely on the WordPress.com ecosystem for their online presence and core functionalities. Professor Grech stated that automation and the current platforms are essential for their work, noting that without them, their scale of operation would not be possible.
Designing for Non-Technical Users
A primary challenge was creating systems usable by medical professionals who are not developers. Professor Grech is an academic, and Dr. Hanes is a physician and vice-president of the European Lifestyle Medicine Organisation. Their time is dedicated to patients, research, and education.
HealthPress.io developed tailored platforms that these experts could subsequently manage with minimal technical support. Grech’s patient management system, InvestInYour.Health, uses WordPress integrated with Groundhogg.io software. This setup handles automated patient follow-ups, manages program pipelines, and tracks compliance across multiple clinic locations.
Hanes’s course platform, eulmcertificate.com, uses WordPress with the LifterLMS learning management system. It delivers a 10-week curriculum accessible across various devices, a format designed for students from dozens of countries. Dr. Hanes commented that the platform delivered a modern experience both educationally and technologically.
Agency Partnership and Infrastructure Consolidation
Bela Grundmann attended WordCamp Europe in 2024 and subsequently joined the Automattic for Agencies partner program. His decision was based on a desire to consolidate client sites, which were previously hosted across multiple providers, onto a single platform managed by the creators of WordPress.
Grundmann explained that aligning with the foundational developers of the WordPress technology provides long-term confidence for business operations. HealthPress.io is now an official Automattic partner, and all client sites it manages run on WordPress.com.
Future Developments and Events
The community has several forthcoming initiatives. Professor Grech is scheduled to launch a course in June 2026 aimed at teaching other clinicians how to establish their own lifestyle medicine programs.
Dr. Ioan Hanes will host a community event in Brussels from September 10 to 12, 2026. For the first time, this event will utilize the digital platform to combine the in-person experience with remote access for individuals unable to attend physically.
Bela Grundmann’s vision for the platform involves supporting 500 lifestyle medicine professionals. The goal is to reach one million people through these professionals’ expanded digital capabilities. The agency plans to scale its operations, relying on the underlying infrastructure to grow accordingly.
Source: Automattic
