PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
I received my Bachelors of Science in Health Promotion degree from the University of Georgia in 2012. One year later, after working as the Wellness Coordinator, I received my Certified Health Education Specialist certificate from the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing. Also in 2013, I became a Certified WELCOA Faculty member via Well Workplace University. The idea of coordinating programs that enable employees to become healthier, as well as saving my company noticeable dollars in healthcare costs, keeps me motivated to further my knowledge of best practices in the field of Health Promotion and Wellness.  

DEMONSTRATED SUCCESS
One of the main health concerns that we had at Tanner Health system was physical inactivity. While we have three on-site fitness centers in our system, we were not seeing the participation numbers that we would have liked and determined further improvements needed to be made to our activity programs. One identifier that contributed to low activity numbers was substandard fitness centers at some locations. Simply put, our main hospital campus had an impressive fitness center while the two other locations’ facilities were inferior. In order to address this issue, I was able to capture CEO support and get approval to renovate the two inferior fitness centers. We increased the square footage of both facilities and added new cardiovascular and weight machines, while also implementing group fitness classes. To further increase activity numbers, we installed showers and changing rooms to encourage employees to exercise before or after work, or on their lunch breaks. After just the first month of the new gym being open, we experienced a 400% increase in participation from the previous month! The fitness center renovations certainly helped create a more supportive environment for our employees. 

After seeing our fitness center participation numbers skyrocket, we took a step back to see how we could take our activity programs even further. From this step back came one of the coolest, and possibly most successful, programs to be implemented at Tanner Health System. After meeting with our CEO and capturing his support, he decided to purchase 2,500 Fitbits so that we could implement an organization-wide Fitbit Challenge for employees. As a side note, a Fitbit is an activity tracker worn on the wrist that tracks steps, mileage, active minutes, and sleep. Employees of all levels – from administration to nurses to housekeeping – have become fully bought in to the Fitbit Challenge and have become addicted to activity! Everywhere we look we see employees walking around with their lime green Fitbit band on. We have also seen a major increase in some very strange (healthy) behaviors – marching standing in the cafeteria line, heavy traffic on stairs, and walking meetings! After just 3 weeks of the challenge, all employees are averaging 9,100 steps per day. Five teams have over 90% of its employees participating in the challenge, and time asleep is up 2% from the first two weeks. Lastly, our employees have walked over 69,000 miles in three weeks. 

These two policy additions played a vital role in increasing our organization’s physical activity participation. The culture has taken a complete 180 degree change – it’s now the “cool” thing to be seen walking around or exercising at Tanner Health System!

LEADERSHIP
As the leader of wellness at Tanner Health System, I find it’s of the utmost importance to the organization’s success that I lead by example. I consider myself a servant leader – that is I wouldn’t ask my employees to do anything that I wouldn’t myself do. I’m quick to roll up my sleeves and do whatever it takes to get the job done, no matter how big or small. I manage a team of 3 energetic health coaches that are vital to keeping our employees healthy. I try and stay in the constant limelight through the health system. Whether it’s making healthy choices at the cafeteria, working out amongst the employees at the fitness centers, or getting my annual health assessment, I show up cheerful and ready to commit to what Tanner Health System is invested in on any particular day. 

INNOVATION
An innovative aspect of my job that I lead is Tanner Health System’s wellness incentive programs. Our program is innovative because we are able to get employees bought in by offering incentives, but employees must fully participate in the programs before they receive the incentive. Two examples of this are our chronic disease management program and biometric screening program. Employees participating in these program are able to receive copay waivers on condition-specific medication or savings on insurance premiums, but each month they are expected to complete tasks such as meeting with a Health Coach, Nurse Practitioner, or Employee Assistance counselor, and track blood pressure, blood glucose, and/or food and beverage intake using logs. We have over 90% of insured employees receiving preventative screenings each year as a result. Our innovative wellness program differs from others because we focus on real behavior outcomes, making ours an outcome-based health contingent program. 

COMPELLING VISION
I believe one threat to the wellness industry over the next 5 years is rising healthcare costs. Businesses and organizations are shelling out more and more money for employees’ health, so budget cuts won’t allow for wellness programs to exist in some markets. I am helping combat this threat by creating a focus on business and industry wellness. Using the tools we have at Tanner Health System, I will be able to implement similar programs to ours with the goal of improving employee health at businesses that may not be fortunate enough to have wellness programs. This will cause a ripple effect – improving overall health, decreasing the prevalence of chronic diseases, and lowering healthcare costs – benefiting both the employee and employer. This will in turn create healthier communities, which will ripple into other communities, counties, and states. The potential is endless; it’s time to roll up the sleeves.