Wellness Caribbean

Click here to visit our on-line Corporate Wellness Community

"Healthy people make healthy companies. And healthy companies are more likely, more often, and over a longer period of time, to make healthy profits and to have healthy returns on their investments."

James A. Autry
President of Magazine Group, Meredith Corporation
Author of "Love and Profit"

Personal Wellness Profiles for Company Employees

Below are the essential elements of a proposal to provide personal health assessments for your organisation’s employees.

A basic profile for each employee includes:
o    Body Mass Index, Blood Pressure, Total Cholesterol, Blood Sugar
o    Lifestyle Evaluation covering, among other things:
    o    Nutrition status                                                          click here for a sample profile
    o    Exercise habits
    o    Cancer risk; coronary risk
    o    Women’s health issues
    o    Stress signals
    o    Social support
    o    Worksite health issues; job satisfaction
    o    Health needs and interests

Based on the above each employee receives by e-mail a confidential ten to fifteen page Personal Wellness Profile with recommendations and guidelines for further action.

Individualised educational information is included for such problems as abnormal test results, signs of stress, overweight, back problems, etc. that appear in the profile.

Procedure:

1) Blood tests will be done at selected Laboratories in any part of the country. For groups of thirty or more, arrangements can be made for the laboratory technicians to go to your worksite to take the blood samples.

2) The Lifestyle Evaluation Questionnaire is completed and submitted over the Internet with complete confidentiality

3) The data is analysed and error-checked with our proprietary software. Employees are contacted via e-mail re any missing or inconsistent information.

4) The profiles will be delivered by e-mail approximately three weeks after the completion of the tests.

5) Where psychosocial problems are evident, employees can be referred to the EAP or other counsellor. Clinical problems will be referred to the employee’s personal physician for management, the cost to be claimed under your company’s medical insurance plan.

Group Report and Summary:

A statistical analysis of your organisation’s overall health risks will be prepared from the collated data. This summary recommends several different health actions that can be implemented by your HR Dept. to reduce your organisation's risk factors and increase employee productivity. Health actions are listed in order of need. A sample Group Report can be viewed on our website.

On-line Community:

Each employee will be invited to join the Wellness Community, a social network on our website. Here they will find information, guidance and support, with personal pages, chat rooms, health assessment tools, and expert advice on fitness and nutrition.

Cost: US$50 per employee for the Personal Wellness Profiles; US$500 for the Group Report and Summary

Following on this exercise, your Wellness Committee may wish to proceed to:

Set Corporate Objectives:

Measurable, time-specific, attainable objectives for the company.
Examples of Corporate Objectives are:

Reduce absenteeism by 20% within one year
Reduce number of employees smoking by 20% within six months
Reduce measurable health care costs by 30% within one year

Organise Education Programmes and Interventions:

One-to-one guidance
Small-group guidance
Target high-risk employees to ensure cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit
W orkshops, special-interest groups, courses and follow-up programmes:

nutrition	stress management
diabetes/BP control	weight loss
coronary risk reduction	smoking cessation
fitness/aerobics	back strengthening/injury prevention

Medical referral for employees with:

High cholesterol
High blood pressure
High blood sugar
Signs and symptoms of disease