Health Handouts : Company Wellness Program Screening And Company Wellness Program Intervention Programs

Health screenings are significant programs to identify chronic disease in their early stages. Once identified, wellness behavior modification programs can help prevent a disease from progressing. Working with local hospitals and other employers, you can obtain information on offering evaluation and behavior modification programs that might better your employees’ health and save your corporation money in absenteeism, treatment for disease complications, and reduced work rate. Below are some ideas to assist you in getting started.

Based on your Employee Needs & Interest Survey and the demographics of your workplace, consider offering periodic screenings to find specific health risks such as:

• Blood Pressure Checks to identify employees with pre-hypertension or hypertension (elevated blood pressure),
• Cholesterol Screenings for total, HDL (good cholesterol), LDL (bad cholesterol) and/or Triglycerides
• Blood Sugar Screenings fasting or non-fasting to screen for possible diabetes,
• Body composition, such as body mass index (BMI) or body fat measures
• Bone density for potential risk of osteoporosis,
• Cancer screenings such as, skin examinations, mammograms, or PSA screenings,
• Vision checks for glaucoma, or visual acuity
• Other health screenings depending on your worker population and needs

Your local hospital, business physician practice, or health department may support assistance. However, if you have workers you may want to concentrate on programs that will keep them healthy instead of screening for early identification of chronic disease. The focus of your wellness program might be healthy lifestyle practices to decrease risk and prevent disease.

In addition to the wellness screenings, consider offering a Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment to all staff members. The Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment will help to identify factors that may lead to additional risks, such as smoking history, stress levels, conception of health, family history, job satisfaction, support systems, and mental health. Often the evaluation results are included on the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment, which provides a more accross the board snap shot of health risks. The summary results offer the significant information to plan appropriate interventions.

Employee Wellness Program Interventions

The key to the success of screenings and Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments is the interventions or follow-up programs. The data collected during the screenings increases awareness and often motivates staff members to consider making healthier changes. It’s the follow up interventions that provide the essential support and assistance necessitated for staff members to actually make and maintain those changes. The interventions have the potential to include individual follow-up and ongoing counseling, individual or group health coaching on the risk factors, behavior change programs, and/or organization support. Examples include:

• Strategies to lower Blood Pressure
• Managing diabetes
• Taking care of your heart
• Healthy eating
• Weight loss strategies
• Growing physical exercise
• Smoking Cessation

Naturally, this is for individual information only. Any follow-up interventions planned by the employer would be based on interest expressed by the employee.

Based on the results and your Workplace Wellness Program Committee objectives you have the potential to plan the best strategies for your corporation and employees. Consider the community resources available to offer services, such as health associations, hospitals, medical care providers, and/or public health agencies.