Professional Development

Ansle Hudson received her Bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of North Carolina in 1983, and her Master’s degree in Human Nutrition from Winthrop University in 1984.  She is a Registered Dietitian credentialed by the American Dietetic Association.

Past experience and accomplishments include:

• Chief Clinical Dietitian at a 700 bed hospital
• Past president of the North Carolina Dietetic association the year they earned licensure for professionals in North Carolina. 
• Recognition as a Young Dietician of the Year and as such, was able to participate in a panel on the redesign of the certification exam for Registered Dietitians.

Demonstrated Success

While our organization has had consistent success with our various clients’ wellness programs, we would like to highlight a smoking cession program Ansle implemented with a specific client that had a smoking rate of 18% in their 1000+ employee population. The result of the program has been to reduce the percentage of population that smokes to approximately 8%, as the population has continued to grow in size.  

With the complete support of the CEO, HR team and the multi-department wellness team, we were able to design and implement a three-tier smoking cession program that consisted of:

1. A group coaching program to create the foundation of the importance of quitting for your health. The group also provided a supportive environment for those attempting to quit.
2. An individual assessment that evaluated each employee’s readiness to change and the impact of their current life events on their willingness to take action.
3. Development of an individualized approach for each employee that included a timeline and action plan for success.

Onsite with the client, we have focused on keeping the same employees in place for both the assessment team and for the intervention team.  This approach has engendered a welcoming environment and level of trust that increases with each visit.

By conducting regular screenings, using a consistent disease/risk assessment tool, we have established benchmarks of progress in the overall population. As a result, we have been able to effectively partner with our client’s HR team, benefits consultant, and third party administrator over the span of our eight-year relationship with this client.

With this client, we have witnessed a shift in attitude towards smoking. The employee population has moved from a norm of smokers being a highly accepted part of the culture, to a culture where non-smokers and smokers focused on quitting is now the new norm for health.  The understanding that not smoking is just part of good health is simply accepted without question.

Leadership

Leadership to Ansle, means setting an example to various communities. 

As an older parent of young children, Ansle seeks to set an example for healthy habits and behaviors.  As a child growing up with a parent who had heart disease, Ansle learned the habits of healthy living and seeks to pass those on to her children. For her clients and employee, setting the correct tone and example is an essential part of the job.

Additionally, a mentor helped Ansle develop her leadership style by regularly encouraging her to volunteer for new professional experiences. This led to her learn very quickly that you do not have to fear something that you haven’t done before – it simply means you will have a new learning opportunity.

As to advice to others looking to become leaders, Ansle would encourage them to approach each new opportunities with a fresh set of eyes instead of trying to fit each situation into a pre-defined construct.

Innovation

Four key factors that Ansle promote have consistently impacted the programs Health + Sport Works create and manage for our clients.

1 – We use employees, not contractors, in the service of our clients. As a result are able to build consistency and trust, with the population at our clients. Additionally, this ensures that there is no examiner variability in the disease/risk assessments.

2 – We ensure that credentials are not the only reason we hire a clinician. We seek clinicians that also can be good teachers in order to affect knowledge and responsibility transfer to the employee

3 – We design programs with the addition of metabolic syndrome rather than solely based on individual risk factors.  This provides our clients the most flexible, broadest approach to program design and employee acceptance and adoption.

4 – We don’t package programs for the masses. We adopts individual elements to the needs and goals of the workplace we are working in.

Compelling Vision

One of the biggest threats facing our industry in the upcoming years is the de-coupling of healthcare from the employer.  The employer-sponsored healthplan is the one unifying factor where all parties are aligned:

• The employer wants to have a healthy workforce and reduced healthcare costs
• The employee wants reduced cost of premiums
• The health insurance plan provider wants to provide the most effective cost/performance plan that will be profitable for them

Moving the industry forward will require the increased the application of technology for clinicians and educators. Not because technology can replace the human intervention, but rather that technology, when applied correctly, will free our staff to have more time with individuals.

The correct application of technology, in Ansle’s approach means that clinicians will spend less time in documenting the statistics and processes. Time, and money, saved here, can be repurposed to human interaction, coaching and educating.