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Charleston in the running for Well Region designation
By Holly Fisher
Supplements Editor
When businesses start thinking about their wellness programs like a business initiative, things happen.
Several Charleston area businesses have banded together to create a healthier work force. As a result, Charleston has an excellent chance of being named a Well Region by the Wellness Councils of America.
Charleston would be one of nine cities or regions in the United States to receive this designation; others include Jacksonville and Gainesville, Fla., Chattanooga, Tenn., as well as locations in Nebraska, West Virginia and Indiana.
“I’m real tickled to see the assortment of businesses that get it. A wellness strategy can be a business strategy,” said Deb Campeau, assistant vice president of business development for Trident Health System.
The Well City or Well Region program is an offshoot of WELCOA’s Well Workplace Awards, which recognizes companies for excellence in worksite health and wellness promotions.
The businesses that have submitted a letter of support to WELCOA pledge to do the following over the next 36 months:
• Send a wellness team or team member from the company to Well Workplace University training to learn how to develop a results-oriented workplace wellness program.
• Join WELCOA (at a discounted rate if company joins 30 days after submitting the letter of support).
• Assure the development and support of a company wellness program using the WELCOA Well Workplace checklist.
• Submit an application for national Well Workplace recognition within 36 months.
After receiving the Well Workplace designation, serve as a mentor company to at least one other company working through its application process.
While 22 companies have signed letters of support, another 14 companies are interested in the initiative.
“This is the easiest thing I’ve ever sold,” Campeau said. Trident Health System provides resources and assistance to businesses with workplace wellness programs. Although Trident has been leading the effort, Campeau said all businesses, including other local hospitals, are encouraged to join the wellness cause.
The concept focuses on the entire business community working together to improve the health and wellness of the Charleston area work force, she said.
Immediate benefits to implementing a wellness program include fewer absences and less emergency room use by employees, Campeau noted.
Having a wellness team improves employee morale and allows companies to engage and develop future leaders.
MeadWestvaco launched a wellness program more than 10 years ago in its North Charleston mill. Through the program, employees receive complimentary health screenings and are encouraged to pursue a healthier lifestyle through exercise, proper nutrition and maintaining a healthy weight, explained Gil Gillespie, who is co-chairing the Well Region Steering Committee as a representative of MeadWestvaco.
“The partnership with Trident and WELCOA was a natural fit for us,” said Gillespie. “They are promoting some of the very same principals that have made our own program successful.”
Launching a wellness program may require some time, effort and cost, but overall, the cost is significantly less than doing nothing. For example, obesity costs U.S. companies $12.7 billion each year, according to the National Business Group on Health. It also reports that obesity accounts for 39 million lost work days and 239 million restricted activity days.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2002 figures indicated that the average annual productivity losses attributable to smoking are almost $82 billion.
Implementing weight management or smoking-cessation programs could potentially save companies billions of dollars.
“We have the tools to (calculate) the cost of doing nothing, and those are big, scary numbers,” Campeau said. “We can quantify the cost of doing nothing and the effect of doing something. These are not soft, feel-good programs anymore but business strategies.”
For more information on joining the Well Region initiative, call (843) 797-FIND.
Holly Fisher is the supplements editor for the Business Journal. E-mail her at hfisher@charlestonbusiness.com.
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