For the past 20 years, St. Vincent’s Health System has provided wellness programs for Birmingham area businesses, including St. Vincent’s employees, through St. Vincent’s Corporate Wellness. These wellness programs are designed to help individuals achieve healthier and more productive lives.

“We currently serve approximately 70 companies in Birmingham and the seven-county area that is served by St. Vincent’s Health System,” says Dana Meginniss, Corporate Health Marketing Consultant. “Our services are based on what each company wants. We want people to be aware of their health.”

The Corporate Wellness staff starts by talking to a company’s human resources person to determine what areas they are interested in pursuing. “We usually do a health fair first or a clinical fair that offers screening for cholesterol, glucose or whatever screenings the company wants,” Meginniss says. “I think the health fairs are more fun. We can do fitness demonstrations. A favorite demonstration is ‘Hula Hooping.’”

In addition to health fairs, the full range of available programs includes occupational health clinics, laboratory outreach, wellness services, wellness education programs, weight management, smoking cessation, nutrition education, women’s health issues, stress reduction, and health screenings. The wellness education programs, once called “Lunch and Learns,” are one-hour informational sessions that promote topics such as healthy eating, stress management and fitness. For example, a chair yoga class is available during these sessions.

Meginniss says these types of wellness programs are growing, a trend that is driven by safety and Worker’s Compensation issues. To address each company’s needs, programs are customized based on the particular company’s wishes. “A manufacturing company came to us because it wanted a stretching program for employees to help reduce Worker’s Compensation claims. In that type of environment, employees do repetitive motions all day and stretching counteracts that,” Meginniss says. “We show the employees stretching exercises they can do while standing on an assembly line, and we teach different stretches for administrative assistants and other employees.”

Each company has its own objective for implementing wellness programs, and that objective may not have anything to do with lowering costs, Meginniss points out. Benefits for employers who use St. Vincent’s Corporate Wellness include lower health care costs, stronger employer/employee relationships, lower absenteeism, disability, and job replacement costs, a boost to employee morale and productivity, and an improvement in the lives of valuable employees.

“Many businesses want to show their employees that they care, to increase morale among their staffs,” she says. “By offering health screenings, we can provide aggregate data to the employer about the overall health of its employees. For example, if a company’s employees have a high overall Body Mass Index (BMI) score, management may decide to bring in a weight management program. We help them define the areas their employee populations need to work on.”

Such population management is also reaching into wellness arenas, too. St. Vincent’s Corporate Wellness offers a personal questionnaire, and a company’s management team can determine who on their staff takes it. “What’s interesting is the questionnaire is self-reported which shows a person’s perception of his or her own health,” she says. “We follow that with biometric screenings which shows a person’s actual health condition. We then report back to each employee with his actual health status. Many don’t know their cholesterol or blood pressure numbers. Some are dumfounded when they find out. ”

As a result of health care reform, Meginniss says they are seeing cost shifting within benefit designs. Employers are now offering plans with higher deductibles or increased deductibles and have raised the amount of out-of-pocket costs for employees. “A lot of employers are giving incentives to their employees to participate in health fairs and wellness programs. Some are offering a premium reduction if the employee completes a defined list of activities,” she says. “When you do this, though, you have to make sure there are opportunities for everyone. Not everyone smokes, so a smoking cessation premium reduction might not be helpful to everyone. Instead, employers may want to use healthy blood pressure or healthy BMI as a goal for wellness incentives. A lot of companies are looking at pedometer programs to reward people for the number of steps they take each day. That encourages them to take the stairs or park in the back of the parking lot.”

More companies are beginning to take advantage of St. Vincent’s Wellness Coordinator program. “Through this program, we place nurses on site at a company, and the company dictates how often the nurse is there,” Meginniss says. “Having a nurse on site allows a wellness program to remain strong. If the program is run by Human Resources, it can get pushed aside when the staff is busy with other projects. The Wellness Coordinator program works wonderfully for those companies that can’t afford to hire an on-site coordinator. It makes the program affordable for everyone.”

St. Vincent’s Corporate Wellness is making a difference in many companies. Sheila Cooley of Energen says the program’s staff goes above and beyond for their health fairs. “It has been a privilege to work with the staff and a joy to know that we could count on them over the last few years with our health fairs all across Alabama,” she says.

Laurie Mayson of Integrated Medical Systems International agrees. “St. Vincent’s Health System brought a highly professional team to our health fair. But it didn’t stop there. They brought personnel that were friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful,” she says. “The activities were fun and the logistics were flawless. The entire event was designed to reduce the stress of a health care screening. As a result, our employees had a good time and got health screenings that could change or even save their lives.”