Local & State Headlines

Dougherty County tries to get employees hooked on healthy habits

• Dougherty County officials say a health department-sponsored wellness program may increase productivity.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — Dougherty County employees made their way to the downtown Government Center Thursday morning for the kickoff of the joint county Human Resources/Health Department “Hooked on Health” wellness program.

Participants took part in blood pressure, BMI (body mass index) and lipid level checks; were served a healthy lunch, and learned about the three-month program that is being sponsored by a Health Department grant.

“The county already offers a wellness program for its employees, but we hope to enhance that with the Hooked on Health program,” Jawahn Ware, county Human Resources project manager, said. “The No. 1 priority is that we want our employees, who are very valuable, to have healthier, more productive and balanced lives.

“There are no negatives to the program. If our employees are healthier, they’re going to be happier and that will help make them more productive. And another long-term benefit is that healthier personnel will help decrease the number of insurance claims.”

Program administrators have a goal of signing up 275 employee participants and retaining up to 143 of that number through pre- and post-program screenings. By Thursday morning, 235 had signed up.

Over the three-month course of Hooked on Health, officials say the idea is to entice participants to take part in healthy activities during the work day.

“We have an obesity problem in this country, especially here in the South,” Ware said. “You talk with people about exercise, and they usually say they’re too tired by the end of the work day. We want to come up with activities they can incorporate into their daily routine.

“We want to make this fun, come up with teams and make things competitive. One of our goals is to have every employee take 10,000 steps a day. Of course, the program is in its infancy stage, so we’re still brainstorming to come up with more ideas.”

Alice Goseer-Jenkins, the county’s Human Resources director, said the key to the program is the buy-in by the administration.

“The most obvious part of the program is forming walking teams,” Goseer-Jenkins said. “We’re being given a bit of time during the work day that will allow participants to take part. We’ll send out an e-mail reminder every day to let folks know it’s time to walk.

“We’re planning a number of activities as part of the program. We’ll have smoking cessation sessions, EMS personnel will come in intermittently to check blood pressure and we’ll even incorporate the concept of sound financial planning into the program. We want to benefit the total person; that will make for more productive employees.”

County Administrator Richard Crowdis said the program could have long-term benefits for the county if participating employees incorporate healthy activities into their daily lives.

“The county is glad the health department selected us as one of their partners with the grant,” he said. “Hopefully the lifestyle changes and information we learn will continue in order to improve the health of all our employees.

“It’s one of the things you have to do with a group health plan to continually get you to work at better lifestyles and help contain spiraling health care costs.”

More Headlines>>