Gastonia City Council heard a strong report about the City’s new Wellness program for employees during the Aug. 7 City Council meeting.
“We have a strong wellness committee guiding a lot of the programs, activities and challenges,” Deputy City Manager Todd Carpenter said. “We’re making some good progress. We’ve had some individuals who have really astounded us in terms of what they have achieved toward a healthy lifestyle.”
Debbie Bellenger with CaroMont Health, has chaired the wellness committee, which has transitioned to an employee chair, Sgt. Adam Wilson, and co-chair, Laura Burton, police attorney.
“Thank you for the opportunity to partner with the City, because it has been an amazing journey,” Belllenger said. “You have very high engagement and I’m very proud to share that. We’ve done some things with the City that we’ve not done with other employers. So top of mind is a relationship not only with CaroMont and the City, but we have a relationship with Atrium (Health) for the on-site clinic, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. So all the stakeholders have come together to work really hard to have an amazing wellness journey at year one. So we’re really proud of that because we’re not doing that with any other employers in Gaston County.
“I also need to brag on you because you have a very high engagement rate for a first year wellness program in corporate America,” Bellenger said. “So you have 73 percent of your employees who have participated in a wellness something or other: fit break, walk, program, lecture, hike – at year one. So you need to be very proud of that. Without your support, of course, we could not do the work, but I think it’s worth bragging on because it’s been stellar. Your first walking program – very successful. So we only see improved outcomes as we go along the journey, but you helped us build some new models for Gaston County too. I think that’s awesome so I thought you should know that.”
Information presented included:
2018 Health Screens
Participation:
- 799 employees participated in the health screens March 26 – April 19, 2018
- 813 were eligible to complete the screen: 799/813 = 98% completion rate
- 654 men and 145 women
- Age <20: 7, Age 20-29: 168, Age 30-39: 170, Age 40-49: 235, Age 50-59: 172, Age 60+: 47
- 591/813 employees participated in wellness activities/programs = 73%
Top 3 health topics of interest correlates with the top risk factors:
- Nutrition and healthy eating
- Weight management
- Stress reduction
FY 18 Wellness Goals
To increase overall wellness score of 65 to 67
Results: Wellness score is 70 out of 100
Improved 5 points from the last year
The Wellness score reflects how many good health factors linked healthy living and a long life that you currently incorporate in your lifestyle. Higher wellness scores are associated with lower healthcare costs for employers.
To increase the percentage of employees who exercise three or more days a week from 66% to 68%
Results: 73% (587/799) exercise three or more days a week
Improved 7 points from last year
FY 19 Recommended Wellness Goals
- To increase the overall wellness score from 70 to 72
- To increase the percentage of employees who exercise three or more days a week from 73% to 75%
- To decrease the number of employees who are pre-hypertensive from 47.1% to 42.1%
For more information, please see the Wellness presentation at: http://cityofgastonia.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=274
