Hospital Introduces Wellness Program

by Jeff Wright

More than a hundred healthcare workers at Hermann Area District Hospital are taking charge of their personal health through a year-long Workplace of Wellness program designed to help employees achieve their fitness goals.

Hospital exercise physiologist Stevyn Guinnip, MSEd. oversees the program, which started at the end of January.  On a quarterly basis, she evaluates employees in areas such as body fat, body mass index or body weight, waist girth, blood pressure, and other health risk factors

For each quarter, employees who show improvement in any of the five areas receive a $35 incentive, or a possible total of $140, that goes toward lessening their health insurance payroll deduction.

“Everybody seemed really excited to improve their health, not because of the incentive, but because they actually wanted to see a health improvement,” said Guinnip. “We were hoping for 50 (people) and we got 102 participants, so we are really excited at the participation.” The Hermann hospital employs about 200 people.

The No. 1 health concern for most of the employees, Guinnip said, was “reduction of body fat,” or to lose weight.

“Just knowing that I will be weighing in and Stevyn is going to hold me accountable is an incentive to start making some changes,” said Matt Siebert, the hospital’s assistant administrator and a W.O.W. program participant.

Hospital Public Relations Director Keva Limberg described the W.O.W. program as “awesome.  I’m on it and I hope I can stick with it and get some results.”  Limberg tries to drink four, 16-ounce bottles of water a day as part of nutrition challenges Guinnip gives employees to help them stay on track. One of them is to drink 64 ounces of water daily.

“I drink a (water) bottle on my way to work and one coming home, so I’ve got two in,” Limberg said. “Then I fill in in-between.”

Another of the “health tidbits” is for the employees to eat three servings of fruit each day, such as half a banana, a handful of grapes or a small apple.

Gunnip said hospital employees also can sign up for a Web-based nutrition and exercise tracking program that allows her to design an exercise protocol for them. “They can email me with specific questions or health concerns,” at no additional cost, Guinnip said. “The goal is to make sure we have healthy employees that feel good and have less stress, and who are productive when they are at work.”

Limberg said healthy employees help reduce health insurance costs for the hospital. She said if the W.O.W. program results in improved or lowered health risks for employees, the hospital aims to introduce the wellness program to local businesses and the community.