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Wellness In The Workplace
February 2010
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February Is American Heart Month
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It's American Heart Month

Almost 700,000 people die of heart disease each year in the United States. It is the leading cause of death in both men and women, yet for women, symptoms can be especially vague and even confusing (unusual fatigue, sleep disturbance, nausea, absence of chest pain). A healthy diet and lifestyle are the best weapons you have to lower your risk for heart disease and heart attack. Please share the "Women's Heart Health" article with your employees and families. And remember, you can lower your risk of heart disease by as much as 82% just by leading a healthy lifestyle.

CTMC
Proving That Wellness Can Be Viral . . .

Central Texas Medical Center has initiated its second LoneStart Wellness Team Esteem Challenge - and is now taking it into the community. The goal: A pandemic of wellness.

We occasionally profile LoneStart Wellness participants, and CTMC, a 178 bed hospital in Hays County Texas, with more than 700 employees, is a success story worth sharing.

Understanding that it had an obligation - and the desire - to make a positive and realistic wellness opportunity available to their associates (employees), CTMC conducted its first LoneStart Wellness 63-Day Team Esteem Challenge in August of last year. Participating associates demonstrated that they could improve their daily wellness behaviors, reduce their risk for preventable chronic illness, and begin to take charge of their long-term personal health. Perhaps even more importantly, they began a dialogue about wellness with their fellow associates, families and friends. Based on this success, CTMC is currently offering a second Challenge for its associates, reinforcing its commitment to see that this important and positive dialogue continues to expand. This is exactly how wellness (just like some illness) can spread virally.

Working toward improved and sustainable health and wellness as a common objective, CTMC saw its associates come together as a group to achieve that goal. Through the Team Esteem framework of the initiative, employees challenged themselves and each other. "Having the ongoing support of a team resulted in greater overall involvement," says Gary Jepson, CTMC President and CEO. "It was, and continues to be, a 'healthy' competition, in every sense of the word."

Dee Taylor, Jepson's executive administrative assistant, is proof positive.
Dee Taylor
Meet Dee Taylor

Dee Taylor is Executive Administrative Assistant to Gary Jepson, President and CEO of Central Texas Medical Center. She is also a "LoneStart Star."

Taylor says she was motivated to take part in the first CTMC LoneStart Wellness Team Esteem Challenge in August 2009 because she wanted to show support for the program and her employer's decision to offer it. "I thought it was wonderful that the hospital was interested enough in me and the other associates and in our health, that they would provide a program like this to help us make healthy lifestyle changes."

Although Taylor says her vegetarian, health-minded daughter had been encouraging her for years to "pay more attention to what I put in my mouth," it wasn't enough to persuade her to change some basic health behaviors. "My main goal was to get off my cholesterol and high blood pressure medications. Weight loss really was secondary. Participation in the Team Esteem Challenge, provided the opportunity to prove to myself that I could do this," says Taylor. She adds that the support from her team helped her meet her goals. And, while she didn't want to let herself down, at the same time, she didn't want to let her team members down.

Taylor says she started with a few simple changes. She made the commitment to walk 30 minutes a day, which resulted in time to think, feel invigorated, and "take-in the wonders around me I would have missed if I hadn't been outdoors." She says too that she began shopping the perimeter of the grocery store, selecting fresh vegetables and fruit, and avoiding anything she suspected she "probably shouldn't have." She recommends eating on a smaller plate and watching portion size, avoiding seconds and soft drinks, eating fresh food whenever possible, and eating dessert only occasionally - and then, only a bite or two.

Although Taylor says she didn't need to lose a lot of weight, she knew she could make better choices. Those choices kept her going when she saw the pounds "dropping off" every time she stepped on the scale. "I liked the way I felt in smaller clothes, and have had to replace everything in my closet!"

Even more important, Taylor met with her doctor at the end of the 63-Day Challenge period, and showed him the blood work that had been done before and after the Challenge. With a 30 point drop in cholesterol and triglycerides, she says she met her most important goal, and is now off both cholesterol and high blood pressure medication.

Now, Taylor is taking part in the second CTMC Team Esteem Challenge. "I'm probably older than anyone here who has participated in this Challenge, and I want to be as healthy as I can so I can enjoy my retirement years."

Taylor's advice for others: "Believe it, you can do it too! Put your health in front of you and don't worry about the weight loss, because this is not a diet. The weight loss comes with making the healthy choices the program promotes. Do it for yourself, but think of your family, children and friends - the people who love you."
Into the Community
And Now, Into the Community

As part of the Adventist Health System, CTMC has a strong heritage of committing time and resources to illness prevention and community wellness. Now, in partnership with LoneStart Wellness, CTMC is launching a community-wide wellness initiative for all interested individuals and organizations in Hays County and surrounding communities. The goal - creating an enduring culture of wellness.

"We're all beginning to realize that a healthy population is a critical driver of future economic prosperity. Together, we can embark on a mission that will change, enhance and even save lives within our families and our communities," says Barry Tyler, Manager, CTMC Institute for Healthy Living.

"Today, more than ever, we all need to look for ways to protect our health and the health of our families. The burden of ever-increasing employee health care costs on businesses has an impact on their profitability and, in some cases, their survival. And communities are beginning to realize that the health of their workforce can have a dramatic effect on their ability to recruit and retain business and industry. Taking a community-based approach to wellness acknowledges that we all have a stake in our health and our future," says Tyler.
hearts
Women's Heart Health

We know all recipients of this newsletter aren't women, but even if you're not, we'll bet there are statistics here that could be helpful to someone you know.

  • Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States.
  • An estimated 240,000 women die annually of heart disease, five times the number who die of breast cancer.
  • Every year, an estimated 485,000 American women die of cardiovascular disease (heart disease & stroke), more than twice the number who die of all forms of cancer combined.
  • One in eight women age 45 and over has had a heart attack.
  • Almost two-thirds of the women who die suddenly of coronary heart disease have no previous symptoms.
  • 1 in every 3 women dies of heart disease.
  • Heart disease claims more women's lives than the next 8 causes of deaths combined . . . including breast cancer.
  • Women suffer nearly half (49 percent) of the heart disease deaths that occur each year.
  • Most women begin to develop heart disease at a very young age.
  • 1 in 5 females in the U.S. have some form of heart disease.
  • More than 35 percent of American women are overweight.
  • More than 25 percent of American women smoke.
  • Coronary heart disease is a major risk factor for stroke, which kills over 87,000 women each year.
  • The higher the degree of obesity, the higher the risk of stroke.

And while obesity and overweight are now recognized as a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, which can lead to heart attack, it's also something that's in our power to do something about -- Americans can lower their risk of heart disease by as much as 82% just by leading a healthy lifestyle.

Statistics from The American Heart Association, Centers for Disease Control, Guidant Corporation, The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and the Mountain States Health Alliance.

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If your organization is ready to take responsibility for promoting healthy lifestyles and a healthy work environment, LoneStart is an effective, low-cost and easy-to-administer employee wellness program, which functions equally well as a stand-alone initiative or as a high-impact jump-start to existing or proposed employee wellness strategies.

Contact us today to find out how the LoneStart Wellness Initiative will change your workplace.

Please share Wellness in the Workplace with colleagues.

Please forward this newsletter to friends and associates who will benefit from a workplace wellness strategy such as the LoneStart Wellness Initiative.

A Challenge. An Opportunity. A Solution.
The LoneStart Wellness Initiative
phone: 512.894.3440

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LoneStart Wellness | P.O. Box 1188 | Dripping Springs | TX | 78620