SC Centers of Excellence Learn from One Another
Oct
18
Written by:
10/18/2011 11:13 AM
Even the top hospitals in South Carolina know that they have lots to learn from others about how to support employee wellness. With this in mind, Working Well – a collaborative initiative of NC Prevention Partners and the South Carolina Hospital Association to reduce the impact of tobacco use, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity amongst SC hospital employees – gathered representatives from eight Centers of Excellence to meet in Columbia, SC on October 11, 2011.
The group spent the majority of the meeting time reviewing how Working Well goals overlap with statewide plans from the Department of Health and Environmental Control to address obesity and tobacco use and discussing successes and challenges they have experienced as they’ve worked to improve policies, worksite environments, systems, and benefits that encourage employees to make healthy choices. Several hospitals reported success bringing fresh produce to employees through the introduction of on-site farmers’ markets and/or community supported agriculture shares – boxes of produce delivered from local farms. However, many representatives reported challenges getting buy-in to enhance healthy food and physical activity policies. The Centers of Excellence intend to meet quarterly to see each others’ facilities and to continue to share best practices.
The group also discussed the role of social media in promoting the Working Well project. In order to serve as role models to other South Carolina hospitals, several representatives from the Centers of Excellence agreed to contribute to a series of guest posts on the NC Prevention Partners hospital blog and the SC Hospital Association’s blog. Look out for new posts from our South Carolina Centers of Excellence starting next week!