By Thomas Ward – Wellness Program Manager, UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc. You’ve worked with your stakeholders and have set up your strategy, created programs and services that you just know will work – it’s now “go day” and the only employees who show up are the woman who runs every day after work and
Working on Wellness Blog
Additional Stories
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Breathe Easy by Promoting a Tobacco-Free Workplace
Despite significant reductions in the adult smoking rate over the past twenty years, the burden of tobacco remains entrenched. Smoking remains the number one cause of preventable death and disease in Massachusetts and nationally. In fact, more than 8,000 Massachusetts residents die each year from smoking and many more face tobacco-related illnesses.1 Nationally, tobacco kills
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Do You Suffer From This Chronic Workplace Condition?
Do you have days where you head into work knowing that you’ll probably get little ‘real work’ done. Undoubtedly the reason you’ll get little work done is because you will spend the day in meetings. Perhaps you suffer from the newest workplace chronic condition – meetingitis.
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Eat Well, America!
November is National Diabetes Month. Nearly 30 million children and adults in the U.S. live with diabetes.1 In the U.S., 86 million adults have prediabetes, which is when your blood sugar level is higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes.1 To put these numbers into greater perspective, 1
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Technology and Wellness: What can the latest gadget do for your workforce?
In this day and age, technology is a part of most Americans’ daily life. With over 64% of American adults owning a smart phone1 and 87% using the Internet2, it has become integrated in our lives and our culture. Common technology items that are used for wellness include smartphone applications, health websites and wearables. Applications,
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Strategies for Protecting Your Employees and Their Families from the Flu
The flu can be a big disruption to the workplace, especially for small organizations. The flu season is responsible for the loss of approximately 17 million workdays each year in the United States. During the 2013-2014 flu season, the working population – adults 18-64 years of age – accounted for almost 60% of reported flu-related
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The Massachusetts Health Promotion Clearinghouse – A Free Resource for You!
The Mass Health Promotion Clearinghouse maintains over 600 resources in 10 languages that cover a variety of public health topics including chronic disease prevention. Topic areas such as diabetes, wellness, nutrition, physical activity, substance abuse, asthma and other health promotion topics are covered. Materials are available free-of-charge to residents, health care providers, and social service
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Mental Health
October 10th is World Mental Health Day. Did you know that 1 in 5 Massachusetts adults struggle with depression?1 In fact, over 10% of working-aged Massachusetts adults reported 15+ days of poor mental health in the previous month!1 Why is this an issue for Massachusetts employers? We know that depression alone accounts for a 17%
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State Conference on Creating a “Culture of Health”
The Worksite Wellness Council of Massachusetts hosted their 4th Annual Conference at Gillette Stadium last Tuesday, September 22, 2015. The Worksite Wellness Council of Massachusetts is an organization of Massachusetts health promotion professionals and business leaders dedicated to promoting healthier lifestyles for all employees of Massachusetts through health promotion activities at the worksite. If your
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Partnering for a Healthy Workforce
It’s all connected. A recent study by the Vitality Institute and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) found that the health of employees is linked to the health of the community in which they live. Its report, Beyond the Four Walls: Why Community is Critical to Workforce Health, analyzed health data (smoking, obesity,
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Worksite Wellness for Small Businesses
Large businesses, non-profits and government organizations have been experiencing the benefits of wellness programs for decades. But only recently have smaller businesses started to initiate worksite wellness programs.
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The State of Worksite Wellness in Massachusetts
More and more worksites in Massachusetts are investing in the health of their employees! Worksite Wellness Programs are becoming more common as employers realize that a healthy workplace can lead to better performing workers, lower absenteeism and decreased healthcare costs. However, starting a worksite wellness program can often be challenging for many employers if they