Taking Employee Wellness to the Next Edge — Customization

Updated on June 28, 2013

HTP_logoBy John Chamberlin

It’s great to see corporate wellness increasingly becoming the “in thing!”  Employee participation in group weight loss contests, walks, 5K, half and full marathon running teams are certainly on the rise.

But is exercise the only component to corporate wellness?  What about daily medication compliance, education on dietary methods or identifying an employee’s risk for diabetes?  Does stress at home affect work output?  Should I get a flu shot or not?

And what about wellness education programs that make sense… education and testing targeted to your specific employees and their work conditions?

We spent some time with Kathy Fillip Wellness Coordinator at Hometown Pharmacy talking about this.  The Hometown Pharmacy group has been providing education and testing through its Worksite Wellness program for over nine years.  And while Kathy is happy that there is a trend upward in company’s wanting this education and testing, she sees a need for change to make the wellness make sense.

Kathy says, “Hometown Pharmacy’s approach is to customize an affordable education and testing wellness program for each group.  For example, if I am working with a company who has a staff that works outside in the sun, I typically include the Derma View Screening for skin exposure issues in that companies wellness program.”

Similarly, if the company, with which Kathy working, has a primarily female population, she includes  bone density testing as part of the program.

Of course, there is a challenge in an employer taking on a company wellness program.  As business professionals, they want to know what the Return on Investment will be, right?  Commonly, Kathy gets asked if the company wellness education and testing will decrease insurance premiums.

While there can be no guarantee that initiating a company wellness program can motivate your provider to lower their rates, showing a company-wide commitment to screenings and wellness education, like Hometown offers via its Worksite Wellness, can eventually be evidence to show your provider to request a more favorable rate.

Certainly including Worksite Wellness is at a minimum a great way to improve company attitudes and create a “we care about our employees” attitude.   It is kind of obvious,  but healthy employees call off less, get more work done  and create less stressful work environments than ones who are unhealthy

The following is a short list of presentations, tests and screenings offered by Hometown Pharmacy at reasonable fees and can be mixed a la carte to design a yearlong Worksite Wellness program for your company. .  Keep in mind, Kathy’s role is to utilize these and other topics to customize a wellness program for each individual group.

Presentations:

  • Stress Management
  • Generic vs. Brand Medications
  • Heart Attack and Stroke Prevention
  • Back Care/Proper Lifting Techniques

Activities:

  • Bone Density Screenings
  • Blood Pressure Screenings
  • Cholesterol and Glucose Screenings
  • Derma View Screening

Just like wellness, reading and self-education is the first step for business owners.  But “activity” and “participation” are the most important pieces of the puzzle.  As Kathy told us, “The reaction is that people want to embrace wellness education at their company, but they are just not sure how to get your hands wrapped around getting started.”

So what’s next for you as a reader of this article?  The next step is an activity. Put wellness into action.  Contact Kathy to review your company’s wellness program or to initiate a testing or education session.  All of Hometown Pharmacy’s presentations and activities can be done on-site or at a 3rd party location such as the employee outing or company meeting.  So inconvenience is not an excuse to put this on the back burner for another month or until the next quarter or fiscal year.

Contact Kathy at 412-680-2486 to get started with help in amplifying your current activities with solid, practical education customized to your company.  

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