Category — Chiro Care Wellness

Advantages of Prenatal Care and Breastfeeding

The old adage “an ounce of avoidance is worth a pound of cure” is especially relevant to when applied to preventive measures taken during pregnancy, when several extra ounces of birth weight can save a child’s life.

During pregnancy, simple precautions can help avoid catastrophic results; giving up smoking, for instance, drastically lowers the risk of miscarriage and pre-term labor.

The March of Dimes reports that when all women took adequate folic acid before conception and during pregnancy, the number of babies born with a neural tube defect could drop by as much as 70 percent.

The physical and emotional advantages of proper prenatal care to a mother and child are underscored by a strong company case for offering prenatal wellness benefits. Nationwide’s Chief Medical Director, Dr. Michael Moore, estimates costs to care for one baby delivered prematurely could approach $500,000.

First steps in fostering a prenatal program –  

• Invite the March of Dimes to present information about prenatal health at an worker brownbag lunch or breakfast meeting.

• Hold prenatal care information courses for interested employees at lunch.

• Provide educational materials about the effects of alcohol, drugs and use of tobacco on an unborn child.

• Offer incentives for adopting healthy lifestyles during pregnancy.

• Offer prenatal programs and education as part of the company health care package.

Advantages of Smoking Cessation Programs

Instances of respiratory diseases, cancer and other diseases could be lowered through tobacco use cessation efforts. Tobacco use cessation programs can provide gigantic opportunities for improved health.

The American Cancer Society reports that use of tobacco employees cost businesses an average of $1,429 per smoker per year in increased healthcare costs over non-use of tobacco employees.

Implementing a use of tobacco cessation program costs an average of $45 per employee per year, saving corporations an average of $1,383 per year for each employee who quits use of tobacco. Also, the American Cancer Society reports that smokers are absent from work 50% more often than nonsmokers.

They are also 50% more likely to be hospitalized and have 15% higher disability rates. Smoking lowers onthe- job productivity as well. Employees who take four 10- minute tobacco use breaks a day work more than a month less per year than staff members who do not take smoke breaks.

Places to start with smoking cessation programs –  

• Create a “buddy” program to provide encouragement for those who commit to stop tobacco use.

• Offer lung capacity tests at business wellness fairs.

• Consider reimbursement for use of tobacco cessation tools –  nicotine gum, patches and inhalers.

• Limit use of tobacco areas in the workplace.

• Present onsite tobacco use cessation sessions.

Benefits of Nutrition Programs

Nutrition directly impacts almost every aspect of physical and mental health. A healthful diet can help protect against such conditions as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, stroke, certain cancers and depression. Obesity, which is among the most common conditions linked to diet, affects a record number of American Citizens.

The American Journal of Wellness estimates the cost of obesity to USA  business to exceed $12.5 billion in health care, sick time, and life and disability insurance.

Moreover, one study reports that obesity raises healthcare costs by 36% and medication costs by 77%. to offset the health risks of obesity and poor diet, many companies have committed to helping staff members ensure proper nutrition and undertake weight control programs.

Popular nutrition programs –  

• Provide employees with educational materials or courses on proper nutrition provided by a registered dietitian.

• Offer onsite Weight Watchers meetings or other weight control programs.

• Give nutritious and health conscience meal options in the cafeteria and vending machines.

• Obviously post nutrition information for all cafeteria and vending machine items.

• Offer low cost, healthy, take-home dinner choices for workers and their families.

• Draw attention to healthy consuming habits by providing token incentives, such as pencils or ID holders, for achieving five fruits or vegetable servings a day for a week.

Nutrition programs in action

While many companies address weight control through fitness initiatives, companies are increasingly focusing on nutrition through separate programming. Recognizing the productivity boost and reduced medical expenditures that come with maintaining a healthful weight, many companies might help pay for obesity treatments for workers.

For  instance, to improve the health of dangerously obese workers, drug maker Wyeth reportedly compensates for stomach-shrinking surgeries that carry price tags of up to $40,000.

A 2003 Society of Human Resource Management study shows that 24% of employers offer weight loss programs. In Ohio, Honda offers an onsite, registered dietitian who provides individual or group consultations on weight management. Body fat analysis and BMI  measurements are available to workers at any time.

At Grange Insurance’s Columbus headquarters, the cafeteria chef evaluates meals and provides employees basic nutrition information, including Weight Watchers points.

A lot of companies partner with the American Cancer Society to offer nutrition information through the “5-ADay” program, which provides businesss free signage and educational materials about the importance of eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

The program also offers a fruit and vegetable “frequency card” that gives employees a free portion of fruit or vegetables after he or she has purchased a preset number.

Advantages of Fitness Plans

Exercise lowers weight, lowers risks of heart attack and stroke, assists to control blood pressure (BP) and diabetes, and improves mood. Studies increasingly show that exercise may also help reduce the occurrence of certain kinds of cancer.

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently documented another major advantage –  exercise improves the health of the nation’s medical care expenditures.3 As reported by the CDC, physically active person incur $865 less per year in health costs than inactive people .

Dr. Michael Moore, vice president and chief medical director at Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, maintains that exercise is the most effective tool in health maintenance. “If you may prescribe exercise in a pill, it would be the number-one prescribed treatment in the world,” he said.

In step with Dr. Moore’s prescription, almost one-third of United States  corporations help employees pay for fitness center memberships, according to an Associated Press report. Subsidizing fitness center memberships is just one way corporations encourage active lifestyles.

Well-liked fitness-forward initiatives –  

• Start a company softball or volleyball league.

• Compile and distribute information about opportunities to join athletic groups in your community.

• Offer partial or complete reimbursement for workout facility memberships.

• Hold aerobics, karate, yoga or other kinds of fitness classes onsite.

• Provide extended lunch hours for workers who commit to lunchtime exercise programs.

• Introduce an on-site workout facility that is free, or available at a nominal cost, to workers and their families.

• Conduct on-site wellness fairs that include fitness demonstrations and promote fitness activities and resources.

Wellness program means different things to different businesses. Effective wellness programs may be as simple as bringing bushel baskets of fresh fruit into break rooms to encourage better eating. They may be as extensive as building fitness facilities onsite or paying for obesity treatments.

A driving factor behind the push toward wellness spans organizations of all types, sizes and cultures –  that is, health care expenses are spilling over the corporate belt buckle.

The annual cost of medical services in the USA is rising at seven times the rate of inflation. and the rise in healthcare costs is one boom pundits expect our economy to sustain.1

This trend makes it increasingly challenging for employers to maintain current levels of insurance coverage. In 2003, healthcare inflation forced 65% of corporations to raise employees’ share of healthcare costs.

Seventy-nine% of big firms said they will increase workers’ share of health costs in 2004.2 But with lost benefits and increased financial burdens come lost morale and productivity.

Employers are searching for another way. While businesses cannot control many of the supply-side elements contributing to rising health care costs-malpractice insurance rates, the nursing shortage-they can help curb demand. That’s why efforts are being redirected from disease to wellness.

The case for wellness is supported by an ever growing body of evidence demonstrating the high costs associated with controllable health risks –

• One study reports that obesity raises health care costs by 36% and medication costs by 77%.  

• Michigan officials estimate lack of exercise cost the state almost $8.9 billion in 2002, a cost estimated to be largely borne by employers through insurance premiums and lost productivity.

• the not-for-profit National Committee for Quality Assurance reports that the estimated typical cost for postnatal care for women who did not receive prenatal care was $2,341 more than for women who had. and the indirect costs of unhealthy behavior may be just as high.

Data shows that healthier workers are more productive, spending more time at work and showing increased “presenteeism,” or productivity, while there. Further, healthier workers use fewer medical services.

The five leading causes of death in the United States – heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes –  are directly linked to unhealthful lifestyles. Obviously, encouraging healthful habits presents an opportunity to improve employees’ well being, reduce the need for health care services and help control costs.

Offering staff member wellness benefits – large or small – represents an intersection between corporate social responsibility and responsibility to stakeholders. Between staff member health and corporate health. It’s often the right thing to do for employees and companys.

Research by Traveler’s Corp. shows a $3.40 return for every dollar invested in Wellness Programs. for a lot of corporations, the option to offer worker wellness benefits is easy-one where conscience and pragmatism align.

The challenge arises in choosing  the programs that’ll deliver the most impact based on trends in your employees’ health risks and medical claims costs.

From big companies to the corner deli, company owners welcome ways to increase productivity, reduce rates of absenteeism and cut costs. Likewise, wellness programs can range from modest to elaborate.

In deciding where to focus a corporation’s limited resources, looking at costs, benefits and best practices is a good beginning point. This section profiles six aspects of wellness and explores their benefits to workers and companys.

When it comes to working wellness into your workforce, you want someone who knows the ins and outs of wellness, and who can counsel workers and provide main care – all within the context of the current regulatory and legal environment.

AAOHN’s survey stated that more than half of employees (61 percent) want to receive wellness information from a healthcare professional, such as a advisor or an on-site occupational health nurse (OHN), compared to  pamphlets or  pamphlets (18 percent) or human resources staff (15 percent).

OHNs can develop, implement and evaluate components of work site wellness programs like screening programs, exercise/fitness courses, stress management, use of tobacco cessation, nutrition and weight control programs, as well as chronic disease management programs.

Plus, OHNs can help workers navigate through complicated health plans and might even serve as a triage point between workers and their personal health care providers.

Employees might refrain from seeing their health care provider when it means time away from work, inconvenient parking, waiting time in the office and co-pays.

In situations where workers are under treatment for chronic diseases like heart illness, onsite nurses can routinely monitor risk factors like blood pressure or cholesterol on a regular basis.

It’s often easier for an employee to ask an onsite nurse for information about signs or prescription medication than it’s to schedule a follow-up visit to an individual healthcare provider.

Benefits realized by companys include enhanced employee morale and retention, a recruitment advantage, increased productivity and lowered time away from work.

In businesses with a safety department, the OHN can evaluate and address work-related health issues, including participation in workstation evaluations to correct potential ergonomic problems, and proactively addressing muscle strains by developing stretching programs and involving staff members in leading stretches.

Wellness Programs are excellent for waistlines and your bottom line

In today’s hectic world, most of us are spending more time at work, and have increasingly less time to look after our health. for a long time, businesss have understood the benefits associated with keeping employees well – increased productivity from reduced absenteeism and reduced disability claims.

For these reasons, coupled with the fact that many companies realized double-digit healthcare costs last year, companies should consider Wellness Programs as a way to keep employees healthful.

But just how important are these programs to employees? How often are they willing to participate in programs designed to positively impact their wellness? Who do staff members trust to provide them with important information about their health?

Answers to these questions and more were lately garnered from a study  commissioned by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Inc. (AAOHN).

The AAOHN survey questioned 500 workers nationwide about their perceptions of Wellness Programs. More than three-quarters of all participants indicated these programs are a good way to improve their overall health, and nearly 60% consider these offerings an incentive to remain with their current company.

Staff Member retention and turnover impact the bottom line, so building wellness programs into the work site culture is a valuable way to help retain talented workers in addition to enhancing personal health and workplace productivity.

Wellness wish list

Staff Members appear to have their own agenda when it comes to their health. With new pressures resulting from an unstable economy, national security threats and work/balance issues, it’s not surprising that 85% of survey respondents cited stress management as a priority topic for work site wellness.

In addition to stress, other preferred topic areas include screening programs (84 percent), exercise/fitness programs (84 percent), medical insurance education (81 percent) and disease management (DM) seminars (80 percent).

In addition to lifestyle and personal health issues, those asked expressed concern about work-related health issues, including strains and injuries resulting from lifting or task-oriented muscle repetition, exposure to harmful substances, personal injury, vision changes due to computer work and workplace violence.

Beginning a Wellness Program

With such a wide range of health concerns, a key goal for employers is locating a way to proactively address the health needs of the largest number of employees, and effectively change unhealthy behaviors, promote wellness and ward off illness and illness.

Printed materials like  brochures, posters, fliers or  brochures present an easy solution. But it’s important to remember that different individuals  require different formats for learning.

A good rule of thumb –  provide information in a variety of learning formats like videos,  pamphlets, health-related quizzes, display boards, brown bagger presentations and reimbursement or incentive programs.

This assumes you’ve overcome the first hurdle – getting individuals  to sign on to a wellness program. While survey respondents indicated wellness programs are important, just six out of 10 (60 percent) reported that they participated in the wellness programs at their companies. the other 40 percent cited lack of interest and lack of time as deterrents.

This points to the need for a extensive, structured wellness program using a creative approach, with an incentive for participation and effective program marketing.

By investing in an organized wellness program headed by a certified health care expert like an onsite nurse, corporations can give workers the access to the medical information they want, and increase participation and generate interest at the same time.

The result –  staff members become savvier health care consumers who feel more in charge of their personal health. and healthier staff members make for a healthier bottom line.

Wellness programs are designed to help improve the overall health and awareness of health related issues of employees in the workplace.

Although these programs are set up to help person set, work toward and maintain healthful lifestyle choices, they sometimes fail.

There are five main reasons wellness programs are unsuccessful. the first reason is because of lack of employee interest. It’s imperative when presenting a new wellness program to employees that every effort is made to communicate the all encompassing benefits of the program to the organization and to the individual.

Next, wellness programs can fail because of lack of staff resources. When a wellness program is introduced but there are few resources to offer with the program, it will be difficult for an staff member to want to take benefit of it.

As part of the previous reason for failure of a wellness program, inadequate funding also can set a program up for failure. With little money to promote a wellness program, it could be challenging to spread the word about the advantages of a wellness program.

An all too frequent reason that wellness programs don’t reach optimal success is because the program and its coordinators fail to engage high risk staff members. When high risk staff members have the majority of the health issues in a workplace, they must be the most targeted individuals for a wellness program.

To see 100% participation is the optimal goal, but to engage those with the most severe health concerns is a immense priority.

Finally, the inability to enlist the support of higher management is a significant reason why wellness programs may not be successful. Without the endorsement, support and flexibility that management can offer a wellness program, it is far less likely that it’ll actually succeed.

Wellness programs succeed for just as many reasons as they fail. With engaged and aroused employees, obtaining wellness objectives is attainable and promising.

Corporate wellness involves many aspects of the workplace and can look dramatically different based upon the shared wellness vision.

Wellness efforts can also be uniquely tailored to women and men, old and young or to special health needs. Wellness in the workplace should be a top priority regardless of gender, age or special needs.

Living healthy requires time and attention and often special wellness activities designed by a wellness committee can help reach certain health objectives.

Most wellness programs allow for each staff member to dictate the objectives and activities that’ll make up their wellness objectives.

Often, the business will jump in with wellness programs or incentives. as when sponsoring a competition, some businesss will pay employees for reaching weight loss goals.

Other wellness ideas may include special benefits or compensation for reaching health objectives. It could be difficult to gage what will motivate some workers, but knowing that most workers do not want to pay more for healthcare is a good begin.

A solid wellness program is a surefire way to lower health care costs, lost vacation time, and other miscellaneous medical testing.

With a unified wellness committee taking employees opinions into account, there must be objectives set up across the board that’ll help focus and monitor health care objectives for all involved employees.

Some employees may select to focus on specific health concerns while others may want to improve their overall health through diet, exercise and stress relief techniques.

If some employees seem adamant about admitting health concerns, it may be helpful to reaffirm confidentiality with each staff member.

Other staff members may find it helpful to join a group or a partner in working toward healthcare objectives. Studies have proven that working on any type of goal with another individual increases the percentage of completion and success.

Corporate wellness can come in any shape, form or timeframe. It’s more important to have resources in place for staff members to ensure a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

Wellness programs encourage individuals  to start taking steps toward healthcare prevention by teaching healthy decision making. These programs are designed to decrease healthcare costs, lower rates of absenteeism, and increase productivity.

It’s believed that many illnesses in America are preventable by proper medical testings and small changes toward a healthier lifestyle. the most valuable resource a company has is its workers.

By investing time and money into them, the corporation would reap the benefits of having more focused and healthier staff members.

For an employee, wellness programs can lead you towards living a healthier lifestyle and becoming a much healthier person. Depending on what a corporation offers you are able to learn how to reduce stress, keep your sugar levels in control, and even lose weight.

The support you will receive from your peers will help you reachyour health goals. From consuming a healthful lunch together to forming a racquetball tournament, you will develop a feeling of friendship between peers.

Social influences are a major part of a healthful life style. You will be getting encouragement from coworkers in addition to encouraging others around you to live healthful.

For businesss, these wellness programs proved to have a considerable return on the investment put into them.

The small amount of funds it costs to begin these programs and continue with them is insurmountable compared to what they save with increased productivity and reduced costs spent on sick time and insurance premiums.

Having business support is a good begin to living a healthier lifestyle. No matter what the approach, Wellness programs can help make a positive change in your job, life and the community.

Beginning these programs is just one way businesss around the United States are creating a healthier and more productive workforce.