New Baptist Easley activities help employees get active and maintain healthy weight
Apr
10
Written by:
4/10/2012 9:03 AM
I am Kelly Price, Manager of Employee Wellness & Community Health at Baptist Easley Hospital. Spring has brought on new activities at Baptist Easley Hospital, and I am so excited to share what is going on here in the Upstate of South Carolina.
Marsha Sharp, RD, and I have become licensed facilitator’s for Dr. Michelle May’s “Am I Hungry?” mindful eating workshops. We had thirty employees successfully complete our first workshop and continue to show improvements for a healthier lifestyle. We will offer another series of classes for employees early this summer. We have also offered Weight Watchers at Work and employees lost over 400 pounds! Five of our physician practices are competing in a ten week “Biggest Loser” contest, and as we near the end, the competition is getting fierce.
I am very excited about everything that we are doing to promote physical activity through our BE Healthy Wellness program. We have recently been awarded the American Heart Association “Fit Friendly Company” for the second year. Recently, we added point of decision prompts at all of our elevators to encourage employees and visitors to take the stairs. We encouraged employees to wear their sneakers to work and take a walk around the facility in honor of American Heart Association’s National Walking Day, and at our annual Employee Wellness Day, employees played Wii Fit at our physical activity station. In March, we kicked off our 3rd Annual Exercise Challenge. Over 220 employees enrolled and are reporting their daily activity. The challenge will run for eight weeks, and our goals are to improve blood pressure, weight, and activity level. 
I use our communication boards, weekly email, and intranet to post local physical activity events and highlight employees who participate. Also, we have incorporated exercise breaks at all of our leadership institutes (that’s our wellness team dressed up and leading employees in the cha cha slide!).
We are a Gold Star recipient and continue to offer onsite tobacco cessation classes for employees, their dependents, and our local community. Baptist Easley 
employees receive nicotine replacement therapy (patches and gum) for each week they attend the four week class.
Our mission at Baptist Easley is to preserve, promote, and enhance the health of those we serve, and we continue to do that through our BE Healthy Employee Wellness Program.