The Worksite Wellness Council of Rhode Island is about 5,000 steps closer to its goal of having Rhode Island become the country’s first "Well State."
Since its inception in 1998, the council has been working toward that designation, which would mean 20 percent of the state’s adult workforce – or about 96,000 of nearly a half million working Rhode Islanders – work for employers that are certified by the Wellness Council of America. WELCOA is an international, non-profit health-promotion group aimed at lowering business costs by improving employee health and fitness.
Over the past year and a half, WELCOA certified five Rhode Island organizations employing a combined 5,000 workers, including Newport Hospital, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, AAA of Southern New England and the Rhode Island Department of Health.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
Certification requires participants to meet a series of benchmarks, including a clearly defined budget, a team of employees to run the program, an operation plan and an organization-wide health-risk assessment, which is provided free by the state Department of Health.
Using the assessment as a guide, the organization devises a wellness program tailored to the health risks of employees. If, for example, a company has a higher-than-normal number of people who smoke, then a strong smoking-cessation program would be a key part of the overall wellness plan.
Other elements can include stress management initiatives, nutrition and weight-loss programs and even personal finance courses.
AAA of Southern New England, the first Rhode Island company to receive WELCOA certification, in 2000, put in place a weight-watchers program and blood-pressure screenings as two components of its overall wellness plan.
"We collected information from employees and used the aggregate data to determine what the most significant health risks are here," said Mark Converse, a safety manager in the AAA of Southern Rhode Island human resources department and president of the Worksite Wellness Council of Rhode Island.
Although organizations vying for certification must have a wellness-program budget, most programs "really don’t have to cost a whole lot of money," said Edna S. Poulin, chief of worksite health for the DOH and liaison to the council. Some companies, for example, have designated makeshift walking courses outside their offices, marking off quarter-mile and half-mile increments.
The council is planning a training program it calls its "Wellness University" on March 14 to assist organizations in filing an application to WELCOA for a "Well Workplace Award." Those interested in attending should contact Poulin at (401) 222-5112.
Poulin said the council’s goal is to have the state reach the "Well State" designation sometime in 2003.
