Professional Development

I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Retail Marketing from Kansas State University. After moving back to the area where I grew up, I became part of Four County and shifted my focus to community healthcare. I was privileged to be selected to participate in two area community leadership programs. Those efforts are supported by the Kansas Health Foundation, whose mission is to improve the health of Kansas communities through leadership development.  In 2006, I entered the University of Minnesota’s program for Healthcare Executives and at the same time, joined our company wellness committee. I became a Welcoa faculty member in 2013. 

Demonstrated Success

Our employee population of caretakers tends to be more focused on others than themselves.  Obesity, high blood pressure, and sedentary work and lifestyles have long been primary healthcare cost drivers. 

Our wellness committee was not highly performing.  In 2011, I worked to garner support of our Executive Team, as well as our Board of Directors. A new wellness committee was formed, with representation from most departments and locations. An operating plan and charter was adopted, and each wellness committee member signed on. Members agree to support wellness efforts personally, which has served as a forming and engagement activity for the committee.  Our logo includes the words, “Wellness for Life.” Our mascot is Honu, a turtle. He helps convey the important message that small steps over time lead to better health.  (See attached). Our goal is to improve employee health because it is the right thing to do, and in the process, positively impact the lifestyles and behaviors of the patients and families we serve.

The Health Trip framework from Welcoa fits beautifully with our organization’s focus on physical activity, nutrition, financial, and emotional wellness for staff and patients. Each year the program kicks off with a comprehensive wellness fair. Employee eligibility for incentive is based on achievement of health outcomes, with an alternative offered for those who can’t meet the objectives but are working toward improvement.

Participation in the wellness fair has hovered in the last 3 years between 80 and 90% of eligible employees.  All employees are encouraged throughout the year to participate in wellness efforts, health management activities, and educational offerings.
 
Greg Hennen, Executive Director, relates the following, “Focusing on wellness efforts has measurably improved the general health of our employees. Several have discovered and been able to treat health conditions they did not know they had. Further, wellness promotion creates activities and positive interactions regarding a matter that impacts everyone. As employees embrace the wellness culture we are establishing, there is a transfer of that knowledge and lifestyle decision making to our patient population.”   

These efforts are making a difference!  Premiums for health plans have dropped every year since FY2011, that first year of comprehensive wellness programming.  Employee enrollment in high deductible health plans has risen each year, and agency contribution toward Health Savings Accounts has been made possible in part through plan premium savings.

The culture change is evident. Soda and junk food are absent from break rooms. There is an understanding that if agency funds are used to provide food for meetings and company events, that healthy choices will be offered. Managers encourage employees to get up from their desk hourly, and friendly competition erupts in company wellness events to see who can get the best participation and take home the trophy. 

Four County began our Healthcare Home services to Managed Care Medicaid patients during 4th quarter 2014. The lessons we’ve learned through our employee wellness efforts are paying off as we begin coordinating healthcare services and impacting population health in our communities. 

Leadership 

Wellness is who I am.  It is part of my email signature and included in every staff meeting I hold. I am wellness liaison to the Executive Team and the Board. As COO, I enjoy some inherent credibility in wellness communications to staff.  I am blessed to be positive, healthy and fit, and I think my personal health efforts show.

Because I touch virtually every area of the organization, departments hear from me on a regular basis regarding wellness initiatives.  Wellness is an intrinsic part of my approach to the job, and my communicated expectation for staff.  Thankfully, employees appreciate that we as an organization focus on employee health because it’s the right thing to do. 

One of the greatest successes in establishing wellness as a valid organizational endeavor was getting approval for a budget that the wellness committee has responsibility over.  $53,000 has been allotted this fiscal year for carrying out wellness initiatives.

Innovation

Our agency wellness initiatives include outcomes-based incentives, rather than participation-based incentives. Achieving those outcomes has gotten progressively more challenging over the course of the last 4 years, requiring employees to demonstrate a continued focus on health, yet participation has remained consistent. 

The committee is currently piloting activity bands (Jawbone, Fitbit, and Vivo Fit)for inclusion in our wellness programming next year, in part after seeing the success I’ve experienced in using one personally.  In 2013, I was successful in working with Executive Team to include participation in wellness efforts as part of the evaluation process for all employees. It lends credibility to the program and the expectation that wellness is in everyone’s best interest, especially our patients.   

We continue to seek ways of improving access to wellness information to our employee population. This is challenging, as we cover 5 counties and have many community-based staff members.

 Compelling Vision

One of the most exciting opportunities I see is the surge in awareness of wellness in mainstream and social media. I see this “awakening” as a critical success factor in building buy-in among staff and leadership.  Budgetary constraints remain a threat, particularly in those organizations where wellness is “nice to have” rather than a critical success component.

The more closely we leaders can tie the positive benefits of employee wellness to organizational success and culture, the more sustainable our efforts and organizations will be. Those who integrate wellness into the fabric of their corporate identities will help ensure that employee wellness is not another “project” or “focus of the moment,” but a truly essential characteristic of our organizations.

I will continue seeking ways to make wellness part of who Four County is – rather than what we do – to help promote a happier and healthier workplace and to continue leading community wellness efforts.