Embrace Employee Wellness, Have a Health Fair

More and more employers are focusing efforts on health promotion and disease prevention. Out of sight health care costs are driving the efforts. If you are an employer, you really have no choice but to jump on the prevention band wagon. The first and best way to get started:

Hold a basic health screening and encourage participation with rewards and incentives. The basic tests to include:

• cholesterol levels
• blood sugar levels
• blood pressure
• body fat and body mass index (BMI)
• waist circumference
• health risk assessment

Have a health counselor on hand to review the screenings with individuals, provide some basic advice on how to improve scores, and provide outside resources.

In addition to the basics, you might want to budget in some additional high touch services such as:

• Chair Massage
• Vision Screening
• Dermascan
• Chiropractic Advice
• Stress-Management Advisor (breathing techniques and stretching exercises)
• Aromatherapy
• Ergonomics

The above services will make your employees feel really cared about and catered to. The benefits of treating your employees to a day of screenings far outweigh the costs. There are lots of other ways to focus on prevention and wellness however, a health fair is the first step to promote and improve health at work. For more information go to: http://wwwbusinessgrouphealth.org/ . This is a web site put together by employers and business leaders committed to investing in prevention. In addition http://www.hhs.gov/safety/index.html has an endless supply of wellness information.