Virgin HealthMiles is pleased to announce the 2010 Eye on Wellness award recipients.
The Eye on Wellness awards recognize both an organization and an individual who’ve shown to be outstanding wellness advocates and excellent role models for others.
These Arizona-based healthcare organizations, members of Catholic Healthcare West, have put a focus on helping their employees enhance their personal and professional lives through a wide-ranging wellness program that gives the organization quantifiable insight into the impact and effectiveness of the initiative.
As an organization focused on helping others, Arizona-based Chandler Regional and Mercy Gilbert Medical Centers (CHW-East Valley), members of the Catholic Healthcare West network, recognized in 2006 that a comprehensive, holistic wellness initiative was needed to enhance the health and productivity of its own 3,000 employees. The organization sought to provide employees with a wide-ranging program that would meet its wellness goals, as well as positively impact the utilization of its self-funded medical plan. The organization wanted to implement a program that would be fun and motivational to keep engagement rates high, yet goal-oriented to align with its philosophy that employees who are satisfied physically, spiritually, emotionally, and financially will live fuller, more purposeful lives.
In 2006, CHW-East Valley rolled out its prevention-focused wellness program. The organization anticipated it would not only benefit from a more healthy, productive and engaged workforce, but that its own healthcare costs could be better managed by preventing the onset of a variety of lifestyle-related health conditions like type 2 diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.
“ At any given time, 30 percent of eligible employees are engaged in the wellness initiative, well above the single-digit industry average participation rates of most wellness programs.” - Kristina Bignoli
Employee Wellness Program Coordinator
CHW-East Valley
…Mark is the role model for wellness at Shands Jacksonville. As both an emergency medicine physician for the University of Florida College of Medicine Jacksonville and director of the University of Florida and Shands Jacksonville Employee Wellness Program, Mark uses each interaction with both patients and employees as a way to educate and inspire others to become healthier.
Mark develops and delivers excellent, medically-based wellness programs for employees and has enjoyed demonstrated success in helping employees become more physically active, stop smoking and make better nutritional decisions. As a result, Shands Jacksonville and the University of Florida have seen tremendous positive outcomes with employees changing their lifestyles. Employees recognize Mark as both a leader and “guru” of all things wellness. The demand for Mark to speak is well beyond the capacity he has to give of his time, but he always takes time to talk to employees and offer advice….
