How Fit Are South Florida’s Companies?
December 15th, 2008
I am writing a story for SoBe Fit magazine that aims to answer the question “How fit are our companies?” The feature’s main focus revolves around South Florida’s corporate wellness programs and their rise in popularity, while also considering their presence and impact on a national level. We’ll also touch on subjects like: insurance costs and expenses related to the wellness of our workforce, who pays for what on the insurance front, employee incentives to stay healthy, the policy of salaries tied to weight gain/loss, what sectors work hardest to promote health and fitness among their employees, what incentives work to motivate employees, the actual cost of our healthcare, whether or not healthy employees are more productive, and unusual or alternative ways to deal with work-related ailments.
Have a source to recommend? Comment on my blog below and I’ll reach out if it’s a fit. Thanks!
Entry Filed under: PR Opportunities
16 Comments Add your own
1. Stanton Chase International | December 15th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Jennifer,
Consider speaking with Juan Morales, managing director of the Miami branch of Stanton Chase International. Stanton Chase is a top-ten ranked international executive search firm with some of the most knowledgeable career consultants in the industry.
Since Mr. Morales works with so many different companies across many different sectors both here in South Florida and on a national and international level, he would be able to comment on what he is seeing first hand and what the norm is for the topics you present.
If you would like to speak with him I am more than happy to arrange it.
Bruce Serbin
Reeves Laverdure PR
bserbin@reevespr.com
561-391-8717
2. Michele Rubin | December 15th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Carla Mills is a nurse practitioner in Naples, FL, with more than 20 years of experience, an award-winning author, and founder of Maverick Health. Companies are looking to simultaneously lower healthcare costs while understanding that prevention, i.e., wellness, can help employees address behaviors that can lead to health problems (and contribute to escalating healthcare costs). However, companies are cutting wellness programs as they look for ways to weather the current economic storm. Carla’s book, “A Nurse Practitioner’s Guide to Smart Health Choices,” is currently being offered at bulk rates to EAPs and Human Resources as a means of promoting sensible, user-directed wellness–in an environment where wellness programs are under the knife. “A Nurse Practitioner’s Guide to Smart Health Choices” includes tools for developing a personalized health risk profile, practical guidance to create a self-care plan (including diet, exercise, and stress reduction), and a reference guide to understand risks, as well as common medications, tests, and treatments. The book provides companies with a cost-effective means to supplement their wellness initiatives and help employees make choices to take control of their health and well being.
3. Kim Winker | December 15th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Hi Jennifer,
I have an expert for you who can speak knowledgably about the benefits of having healthy executives and how to get them healthy.
Robert D. Willix, Jr., MD is CEO/CMO of Cenegenics Medical Institute in Boca Raton, FL. is a former board-certified cardio-thoracic surgeon and has traveled the country lecturing on health and nutrition. He has been a practicing physician since 1969 and Dr. Willix became an associate professor of surgery at University of South Dakota Medical Center, where he started the first open heart surgery program and was the first cardio-thoracic surgeon in South Dakota.
Frustrated with his patients not following his advice and having to see them back on the operating table, Dr. Willix left cardiac surgery in 1981 and shifted his career to preventive medicine. He became the director of cardiac rehabilitation and human performance for four hospitals in the North Broward Hospital district in Florida. He started the first cardiac rehabilitation and wellness programs for the 14,000 employees in the Broward County School system and the North Broward Medical Center. In 1987, Dr. Willix’s medical approach and lifestyle led him to establish a Wellness Health Institute, a large preventive medicine facility, which incorporated exercise, nutrition, chiropractics, massage, physical therapy, psychology and mind/body medicine. Committed to academia, he has been a clinical instructor in the Department of Integrated Medicine at the University of Miami Medical Center since 1998.
In 1992, he entered private practice in Boca Raton, Florida, where he specialized in integrative medicine. He then became a partner in the premier age management facility in the country: Cenegenics Medical Institute. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Cenegenics now has opened five facilities across the country including on in Boca Raton. As CEO/CMO of Cenegenics Medical Institute Boca Raton, Dr. Willix specializes in age management and preventive medicine, offering a unique and powerful approach to promoting better health.
He also is a prolific writer. For seven years, Dr. Willix wrote an international newsletter called Health and Longevity, which had a circulation of over 82,000 subscribers. Additionally, he has authored five books: Keep Your Miles High and Your Calories Low, Healthy Aging at 100, Natural Health Secrets from Around the World (a compilation), How to Prevent or Even Cure Heart Disease Without Drugs or Surgery, and AGE Proofing—his most recent book discussing his exercise, nutrition and meditation approach for reducing the effects of stress.
Dr. Willix would be a great person for you to speak to about South Florida’s corporate wellness programs. Please let me know if I can arrange an interview for you. I look forward to hearing from you!
Kim Winker
4. Bruce Daley | December 15th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Our company has a division in Florida and among other lines of businesses, manages corporate health plans. If you want to talk to one of our executives please let me know.
5. Deborah Enos | December 15th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
I would love to comment on your story about employee wellness. I’m a certified nutritonist and wellness coach who specializes in employee wellness.
Take care!
Deborah
6. Greg Justice | December 15th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
My name is Greg Justice, and I operate a personal training and corporate wellness business in Kansas City and South Flordia. The corporate website is http://aycfit.com/corporatewellness.html
My partner in Miami is Chris Hererra, and his website is http://www.jaguarpt.com
If I can be of assistance, please let me know. 816-896-6565.
Greg Justice, MA
7. Paul Abercrombie | December 15th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Plenty of co-workers team up to help one another lose weight and get healthier. Few turn a shared goal of cutting calories into a competitive team of tri-athletes.
Yet that’s just what South Florida attorney Denise Wheeler and four fellow lawyers have done.
A couple years ago Denise and colleagues Darren Farfante, Mark Anderson, Justin Mazzara and Matt Wheeley vowed to help one another get healthier. They started walking before and after work. Walking turned to running. Before long this quartet had added cycling and swimming to their exercise regime. They began competing in triathlons, including three in as many months this summer. With every event, the team’s age-group placings have climbed.
Thought there might be a nifty and inspiring story in how this group has turned a workplace pact to lose weight into a fine-tuned team of athletes.
I’d be glad to put you in touch with any/all of them. My phone (I handle some pr for their firm, Fowler White Boggs, which has offices around Florida, including Fort Lauderdale): 813/220-8216.
Incidentally, the firm sponsors a number of other employee fitness/health programs. The firm was recently dubbed
one of the nation’s 15 fittest companies to work for by Men’s Fitness magazine (an admittedly unscientifically determined distinction).
Best,
Paul Abercrombie
8. Joanna Burke | December 15th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
I work for Regence BlueCross BlueShield, a northwest not-for-profit health insurance company with a comprehensive workplace wellness program. We’re working to transform health care from the inside out. In fact, over the last two years our employees have lost 18,000 pounds through workplace wellness!
We’d be happy to be a resource for you from an insurance perspective and a national example of a successful workplace wellness program. You can reach me at jcburke@regence.com.
9. Betsy Tecco | December 16th, 2008 at 12:26 am
I represent a corporate fitness consulting company based in Wayne, Pa. HealthEase, Inc. manages on-site fitness centers and wellness programs at companies of varying size and in diverse industries. Please contact me if you are interested in speaking with the president about the benefits of a corporate fitness program, which industries tend to offer the most wellness services, and any other related questions. I’m sure South Florida’s growth in this area is similar to southeastern Pennsylvania’s.
10. Stacie Kryszak | December 16th, 2008 at 2:23 am
Hi Jennifer,
I would love to be a source for your story. I am the co-founder of a wellness company called Wellness Works, we work with companies to find the best way to motivate, educate, and improve health. We have some great success stories and can speak to the points you highlighted. Most importantly the best use of incentives, how to truly motivate employees to change, and the improved productivity of healthy employees. Our website is http://www.wellness-works.net – I am an exercise physiologist who has worked in the field of employee wellness for over 10 years.
Stacie Kryszak, MA, NSCA-CPT 269 352 5518
11. Ed Emerman | December 16th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Hi Jennifer,
I represent U.S. Preventive Medicine, a provider of corporate wellness and disease management programs with operations in Jacksonville, FL. A growing number of employers are now offering the company’s recently launched groundbreaking wellness tool…The Prevention Plan….to help workers promote and maintain healthier lifestyles.
Here’s how it works. Say I’m an employee and I’m lucky enough to have health insurance if I get sick. Maybe I can even buy disability insurance in case I become disabled. For most of us, there is no benefit that concentrates on keeping us healthy – as least not in an organized, effective manner. That is evident by the 162 million Americans with some kind of expensive chronic disease. In fact, on average, each employee is estimated to lose 8 days of productivity a year from health issues. The employer cost: $2,598 per year.
The Prevention Plan provides employees with a totally confidential program that takes them step-by-step through a solid health assessment and intervention process. Top health risks are rank ordered and RN advocates work closely work with him every step of the way so he can establish, track and actually meet some practical health goals. It includes comprehensive blood work (onsite or nearby lab), physician review, personal health record, online educational tutorials, alerts when it’s time for screenings, and even tells the member what screening my other benefit plans will pay for. Best of all, there are built in rewards for doing the right thing…free gas, computers, shopping trips, and even discounts on health care premiums.
We would welcome the oporutnity to speak further with you. For more information, visit http://www.thepreventionplan.com
Ed Emerman
12. Jeff Halik | December 16th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
In the Miami office of Paychex, a national provider of payroll and HR services, two people (including the branch manager) have quit smoking and others have adopted healthy behaviors because of the company’s Active Health program.
New in 2008, Active Health begins for each employee with an online health self-assessment, and introduces opportunities for employees to engage in activities that minimize risky behaviors and reward health-building habits.
There are three requirements for employees:
1. Complete the Simple Steps Online Health Assessment
2. Indicate tobacco status online. Tobacco users are requested to enroll in the Quit for Life program for personalized help.
3. Complete an onsite biometric screening or its equivalent, to measure blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose levels and other health indicators.
Employees not willing to complete the three Active Health enrollment steps are automatically moved to the Cost Awareness path, which places them in the highest deductible health plan with the least coverage.
Ninety-three percent of Paychex employees nationwide are participating in Active Health, and we would be happy to provide interviews and/or more detail on what’s happening in the Miami office.
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