Paige Desmond
There is always an element of competition between businesses in any town. They compete for customers, advertising, reputation, and the community’s disposable income.
But right now, some district businesses are in a competition of a different kind—pitting their own employees against each other in the name of health and health awareness.
The Northwestern Health Unit’s “Workplace Wellness Challenge” kicked off two weeks ago and a total of 247 employees from seven businesses in Emo and 14 in Fort Frances are participating.
Workplaces signed up with the health unit as groups, with each participant receiving a registration package and a form to track their daily wellness, particularly exercise.
In addition, participants received pedometers to track their daily steps with the goal being to take 10,000 steps per day.
Becky Holden, who is co-ordinating the challenge for the health unit, was thrilled to see so many participants, adding the number grows daily.
“It’s nice to see people engaged,” she enthused. “We continue to have people join.”
The Workplace Wellness Challenge is intended to get people thinking about fitness and overall wellness, as part of promoting the “HealthWorks” program which encourages healthy workplaces.
To encourage people to think about being physically active throughout the day is a major part of the challenge, explained Holden, who is happy with the response this year after an “awesome” community response in 2007.
But the wellness challenge goes further than tracking fitness for six weeks. Holden said it’s part of making workplaces healthier. “We’re trying to stimulate workplaces to take the initiative on their own,” she elaborated.
She pointed to the health unit’s “HealthWorks” website (www.nwohealthworks.org) as a great starting point for employers wanting to improve wellness in their workplace.
Sherry Lessard, with the Fort Frances Dental Centre, has nothing but praise for the health unit’s challenge.
“It’s just awesome,” she said about the enthusiasm of her 19-member team. “Thanks to the health unit for doing this.”
In fact, the Dental Centre team has taken the wellness challenge further by incorporating their own fitness regimen into the program.
Lessard currently is co-ordinating a half-hour “Learn to Run” program for eight people at the centre, which is followed by a 30-minute full body workout.
“The feedback has been so great,” she said of her team. “We have a couple of the doctors coming out to the workouts, too.”
And though the health unit challenge only lasts six weeks, Lessard said her team will continue on after its end.
“We are going to continue,” she stressed, noting the Dental Centre also will be starting a “Biggest Loser” competition in January, which will focus on healthy weight loss using the Body Mass Index.
But to take it even further, Lessard hopes to prepare some of her teammates for a five-km race in the spring.
The Workplace Wellness Challenge wraps up Nov. 7, with the winning workplace to receive a grand prize of a lunch event.
There also will be individual prizes, which have yet to be determined.
