Wellness at work: how businesses and hospitals join forces to promote health.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: Health

We must begin to encourage people, families and communities to take responsibility for their health, or we will go broke," says John Davies, executive director of the Wellness Council of Indiana, noting that 70 percent of today's money spent on health care is for preventable illnesses.

"The answer lies in the partnership of health care and businesses working together to make lifestyle changes," he says. "If we're going to be competitive, our people have to be healthy. Every organization that is looking to the future needs to incorporate work-site wellness."

The Wellness Council's (www.wellnessin.org) objective is to encourage Indiana to become a model for work-site wellness and business competitiveness, he says. "And it starts with a wellness program. We provide guidance, resources and rewards in the form of well workplace and well city awards. And we encourage organizations to work with local providers."

One company that realized the rewards via recognition was Zimmer, an orthopedic implant manufacturer in Warsaw, which landed a Gold Well Workplace Award for the year 2000 from the Wellness Council. The company offers an on-site, self-administered program staffed by nurses to its 1,500 Warsaw employees, says Brad Bishop, public affairs representative. Program offerings include health risk appraisals, health fairs, two fitness centers on-site, aerobics classes, Weight Watchers at Work, massage therapy and other programs.

Hospitals across the state are stepping in to provide programs that link employers to health resources, assess needs, custom-design programs, and even operate fitness centers to give corporate participants a full range of options.

"We're moving into more and more of a wellness culture," notes Tom Farrington, corporate wellness consultant for Indianapolis' Community Health Network. "Employers are bringing it inside their four walls so employees will take advantage of it. And it's bringing benefits like higher employee morale, lower absenteeism, improved health, and help in recruiting and retention."

There's a payback for employers, says Norm Eavey, occupational health and ergonomics specialist at Columbus Regional Hospital, which also offers comprehensive corporate wellness programs. "It makes financial sense to attend to health-management issues. The data has transformed corporate wellness from a 'nice perk' into a business necessity."

"Most of the research says there is a positive return on investment from $2 to $7 for...