Health Tips A to Z

Health Tip – Audio Version – “Start talking”
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step – Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking (Office of the Surgeon General)

People have been getting together to talk about how to keep kids from drinking alcohol. The U.S. Surgeon General, HHS’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration – SAMHSA – and others have been holding town halls on ways to stop underage drinking.

Underage drinking is illegal and dangerous. Kids who start drinking before age 15 are five times more likely to have problems with alcohol as adults than those who wait to drink until they’re 21.

SAMHSA’s Steve Wing says adults can help by giving teens alcohol-free places to have fun. He also says parents can help by talking with kids:

“If you talk with them about it before they’re teenagers, then talking with them again about it later on, and being clear what the family values are around this issue, will all contribute to a good outcome.’’

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: May, 20 2008

Health Tip – Audio Version – “Incoming measles”
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step – Measles Vaccination (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Valuable goods are not the only things transferable around the world.

At a major international youth sporting event held last August in the United States, seven people were diagnosed with measles.

In America, measles cases have dwindled in number because of vaccinations, but it’s still a worldwide concern.

The outbreak occurred when a child from another country contracted the virus in his homeland, but began experiencing the symptoms upon arrival in the states to participate in the sporting event.

Measles symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, pink eye and a skin rash.

There is no treatment for measles, but it can be prevented. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researcher Jane Seward says:

“The best way to prevent outbreaks in the United States is to maintain our current high rates of vaccine coverage.”

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: May, 19 2008

Evaluations determine the outcome of a Employee Wellness Program. They help you discover if your objectives were met. It is a good idea to add an assessment component to your Employee Wellness Program.

Evaluations may conclude that some interventions didn’t work well. You may learn that a popular Workplace Wellness Program costs too much and didn’t really affect employees’ health. While these may not be the outcomes you hoped for, without this information you might continue ineffective interventions. Having this information will help you cultivate better solutions. When your results are great, it’s magnificent! You can spread the word to staff members and management that your program is achieving its goals and objectives.

Three major areas of an assessment

• Workplace Health Promotion Program structure – The basic framework of the program
• Employee Health Promotion Program process – How well the program is run
• Company Wellness Program outcomes – Whether the program met the set objectives

Common questions used to evaluate a Corporate Wellness Program

Worksite Health Promotion Program Structure Questions

• What is included in the Corporate Health Promotion Program? What is the intervention?
• Where does the Employee Health Promotion Program take place?
• How is the Employee Health Promotion Program delivered? What content is included?
• Who manages the Corporate Health Promotion Program?

Worksite Wellness Program Process Questions

• How many people participate?
• Do participants complete the Workplace Wellness Program?
• Are participants satisfied?
• Which aspects of the Worksite Wellness Program are best attended?

Workplace Health Promotion Program Outcome Questions

• Does the Employee Wellness Program better knowledge about health problems?
• Does the Worksite Wellness Program change behavior?
• Does the Corporate Health Promotion Program save the corporation money?
• What is the return on investment (ROI)?

• Ascertain through an employee survey what incentives/rewards they value.
• Ascertain what incentives and rewards the employer can support as well as what the budget will allow.
• Make sure that every attendant who achieves a objective receives some recognition.
• Avoid offering rewards and incentives for the “best” or the “most.”
• Avoid using food as a reward.
• Use incentives/rewards to encourage your Corporate Health Promotion Program, through logos and branding.

Incentives advocate staff members to adopt beneficial behaviors or maintain an existing beneficial behavior that may potentially help the employee stay healthy and live longer. Adopting beneficial health behavior is fundamentally what wellness is about.

Incentives can be used to stimulate participation rates, help people complete a Workplace Health Promotion Program, or help people change or adhere to healthy lifestyles. Providing incentives and rewards and rewards will send an significant message to the workers that your corporation is committed to helping them with improving their health. It also plays a significant role in motivating people to participate.

Tips on how to choose appropriate incentives/rewards:

• Determine through an employee survey what incentives/rewards they value.
• Identify what rewards and incentives the organization can offer as well as what the budget will allow.
• Make sure that every attendant who achieves a goal receives some recognition.
• Avoid offering incentives/rewards for the “best” or the “most.”
• Avoid using food as a reward.
• Use incentives/rewards to encourage your Employee Wellness Program, through logos and branding.

Health Tip – Audio Version - Left in the medicine chest
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: Your Medicine Cabinet Needs an Annual Checkup, Too (Food and Drug Administration)

We get rid of our expired milk. But what about old drugs? Even after we don’t need them – and after their expiration dates have passed – they might stay on a shelf. People think, “Maybe we’ll need them someday.”

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Todd Weber thinks that’s a bad idea:

“The leftover drugs may be taken for the wrong reasons. For example, someone may have a viral infection, and self-prescribe the leftover antimicrobial that was prescribed for a bacterial infection. But that drug will have no effect against a viral infection.”

Or a child, or someone who could be allergic, could get them.

Weber is an associate editor of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, which had an article that said leftover antimicrobials were common in Britain. He thinks that’s also true here.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: January, 08 2007

Health Tip – Audio Version - Sleepless in America
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: Your Guide To Healthy Sleep (PDF –  KB) (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

About 15 million American kids don’t get enough sleep. That big number comes out of a review of national survey data of children and teen-agers.

Arlene Smaldone of the Columbia University School of Nursing reviewed what parents said about the kids in data supported by HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration. Her study is in the journal Pediatrics.

Elementary-age kids with too little sleep tended to have problems at school. Teens were more likely to have headaches. Sleep-short kids of all ages tended to act depressed, and there were more heated family arguments.

What do kids need? Here’s what Smaldone says:

“The National Sleep Foundation recommends that school-age children get between nine and 11 hours of sleep each night, and the recommendation for adolescents is between eight and a half to nine and a half hours.”

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: April, 06 2007

Health Tip – Audio Version - Half the students
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step:College Drinking: Changing the Culture (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)

A study reports almost half of college students binge drink, abuse drugs, or both. The report found increases in things like drug abuse, especially in daily marijuana use and abuse of prescription drugs.

But the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University says the drug of choice is still alcohol. CASA chairman Joseph Califano:

“Alcohol is obviously a much bigger problem. Alcohol is really the big gorilla marauding our campuses today.”

The report, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health, says frequent binge drinking has been going up – and so has the proportion of students who drink to get drunk.

Califano says there’s plenty of blame to go around – including, he says, parents who pay for their kids’ spring break drinking, and even supply the alcohol at parties.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: April, 09 2007

When starting a all-inclusive Company Wellness Program, make sure that it consists of a variety of awareness, lifestyle change, supportive environment programs, policies and activities that target risk behaviors, and the needs and interests of the staff members. It will be valuable to review and revise existing policies governing such areas as smoking sections and the employee cafeteria.

Tips on beginning a Employee Health Promotion Program:

• Develop activities based on your planned objectives and goals addressing the specific needs of your staff members. Focus on those subject matters that are of greatest interest to your staff members and the greatest needs of your employer, in that order. Avoid subject matters with narrow appeal.
• Keep it simple. Design the Corporate Health Promotion Program so it’s simple for the participants to understand and track.
• Integrate a combination of activities to include awareness, educational, and behavior elements.
• Select activities in which every employee can participate.

Recommendations for your Worksite Health Promotion Program:

• Challenges. Activities that focus on practicing a desired behavior that continues for 4-8 weeks and focuses on specific issues (such as physical exercise, nutrition, or stress management).
• Learning experiences. This includes seminars, videos, and classes.
• Behavior changes (such as smoking cessation). You may or may not offer interventions at the workplace. Still, you must bolster people to make lifestyle changes that they want to make even without an external incentive.
• Education on disease management. For example, support and education groups for diabetes, elevated Blood Pressure, etc.
• Learing new skills. For example, CPR and first aid.
• Preventive screenings like Blood Pressure (BP), blood lipids, and vision.

Source: Adapted from the Building Healthy Texans Worksite Wellness Toolkit.

Organize objectives

Goals are general instructions that explain what you want to achieve. Objectives define strategies or steps to take to attain the identified objective.

A wellness program ought to have a “destination”. Use the results of your surveys and your wellness committee’s mission statement as guides. Consider these ideas:

• Focus on making health information and learning resources readily available to employees
• Focus on group activities so employees can work together to support and promote healthier lifestyles
• Create a wellness program that is visible to both staff members and to your customers
• Focus on written policies and ground rules
• Set objectives for your wellness program.

Review Guidelines for Writing Goals.

Goals Should Be

Specific – A objective is specific when it supplies a description of what will be accomplished. It will state exactly what the employer intends to accomplish. It should be written so that it can be easily and clearly communicated. A specific objective will make it easier for those writing objectives and action plans to address the following questions:

• Who is to be involved?
• What is to be accomplished?
• Where is it to be done?
• When is it to be done?

Measurable – A intention is measurable if it is quantifiable. To determine if your intention is measurable, ask questions such as: How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

Attainable – You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable.

Realistic – Realistic, means “do-able.” The goal needs to be realistic for your employer and where the employer is at the moment. A goal to take out all the high fat items in the vending machines may not be realistic for your employer right now; a better goal would be to substitute some of the chips, candy bars and pies for pretzels, yogurt and dried fruit.

Timely – Finally, a intention must have a timeframe: for next week, in three months, by age 35. It must have a starting and ending point. It ought to also have some intermediate points at which progress can be assessed. Limiting the time in which a intention must be accomplished helps to focus effort toward its achievement. If you do not set a time, the responsibility is too vague. It tends not to happen because you feel you can start at any time. Without a time limit, there’s no urgency to start taking action now.

Health Tip – Audio Version - Life
in black and white
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: Eliminating Health Disparities Among Minority Populations (Office of Minority Health)

Black
Americans don’t live as long as white Americans. But statistics show
the gap is getting smaller. Sam Harper of McGill University in
Montreal, Quebec ran the numbers, in a study supported by the National
Institutes of Health. It was published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association.

The study says the life expectancy gap shrank by about two years in men and about one year in women.

Harper’s assessment:

“Reductions in deaths from homicide, HIV and unintentional injuries
were a major reason why we saw these declines in both men and women.
Also among women, reductions in heart disease made a strong
contribution.”

Harper says that, in addition to reducing factors like homicide
rates and HIV, people can take better care of their heart health by,
for instance, healthier diets.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: April, 18 2007