Healthy Businesses

Good Health is Good Business

Studies have shown that keeping employees healthy through worksite wellness and health education programs can have many benefits. They include:

• Improved employee health
• Increased productivity
• Better employee morale
• Decreased absenteeism
• Reduced health insurance costs
• Lower turnover
• Improved employee loyalty

Worksite wellness and health programs are easy to do. This Learn To Live page was created to help you develop a program for your business that will help keep your employees healthy!

A Blueprint for Success

Worksite wellness and health programs are designed to identify and reduce health risks and assist employees in developing good health habits. Following are some of the most common topics covered in worksite wellness and health programs:

• Smoking Cessation
• Nutrition
• Exercise
• Cancer Awareness and Prevention
• Sun Safe Workplace
• Stress Management
• Injury Prevention

The best format for a worksite wellness and health program is whatever works best for your employees in your work place. Some companies hold regular seminars and other presentations on health-related topics. Others invite health care professionals to the workplace to conduct annual screenings. Many companies sponsor ongoing exercise programs. Activities built around healthy eating are popular as well. Whatever methods you use in your business to communicate with employees can be used for worksite health programs too.

Here are a few tips to help ensure that your program is successful:

• Make the program voluntary, fun and easy to do.
• Plan ahead to give employees information on a regular, basis year-round.
• Be sensitive to age ranges, body and fitness limitations, and cultural differences. Be sure to address the needs of any handicapped workers. If possible, consult with a committee of workers that represent various physical needs and differences.
• Make sure your managers model and support healthy behavior.
• Provide a balance of various types of programs and subjects.

How Can I Get Help Or Get My Questions Answered?

Learn To Live offers a wide range of free resources to help you including health kits and educational materials. Simply click on the links to the right for more information on the topics featured on these Web pages. Many of the materials featured on these pages can be downloaded. Simply follow the instructions provided.

In addition, businesses in Anne Arundel County can request printed copies of materials in limited quantities (five of any one item in an initial order). For quantities of more than five, call the Learn To Live Line at 410-222-7979.

To order Learn To Live materials:

• Request Free Materials
• Call the Learn To Live Line at 410-222-7979 and speak to our helpful operators Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Hot Links!

Visit these Web sites for more information about healthy living.

• www.aahealth.org/ltl_50ways.asp - 50 Ways to Worksite Wellness, Anne Arundel County Department of Health
• www.aahealth.org/a2z.asp - Health Matters Fact Sheets, Anne Arundel County Department of Health
• http://mdpublichealth.org/cancer - Center for Cancer Surveillance and Control, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
• www.cdc.gov/tobacco/quit_smoking/index.htm - Centers for Disease Control
• www.physicalfitness.org - National Association for Health and Fitness
• www.shapeup.org - Shape Up America
• www.bikewalk.org - National Center for Bicycling and Walking
• www.cancer.org - American Cancer Society
• www.nci.nih.gov - National Cancer Institute
• www.americanheart.org - American Heart Association
• www.eatright.org - American Dietetic Association
• www.lungusa.org - American Lung Institute
• www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart - National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
• www.usda.gov/cnpp - U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
• www.healthfinder.gov - U.S. government-sponsored site with links to many reliable health Web sites, online publications and government agencies

The Anne Arundel County Department of Health recommends using government Web sites. These sites are reviewed and updated regularly to be sure the information is current and accurate. Sites of major nationwide health nonprofits are also reliable for the most part. These include the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and others, including those listed on these pages. Government and nonprofit sites usually end in gov or org.