Why do you delay dealing with high blood pressure?
Why do you put off losing weight, eating better or finding healthy ways to cope with stress?
Do you have too many deadlines to meet?
Too many work emails to answer?
If all of this is overwhelming to read, take a deep breath. The American Heart Association may have a solution for you and your employer — Workplace Health Solutions, a program created in conjunction with AHA’s roundtable. Developed around evidence-based facts, it’s the nation’s first continuous quality improvement health program for the workplace, according to AHA.
Reports from AHA state that cardiovascular diseases are the No. 1 killers of Americans. By 2035, 45 percent of people will have at least some type of serious heart condition, and the cost from cardiovascular diseases will exceed $1 trillion per year (nearly $3 billion a day).
“We know that rising health care costs are impacting employers’ bottom lines, and having an opportunity to implement and integrate wellness initiatives in the workplace really helps impact that,” says AHA’s local community health director, Lisa Wheeler-Cooper. “Leadership engagement is very important. When employees see that their employer has their best interests and heart in mind, and their leaders are modeling the behavior they’d like to see in their employees, they benefit.”
The national program is free and available to employers of small and large companies. Wheeler-Cooper, who manages the Greater Cleveland area, is passionate about getting the message out and enrolling businesses because she knows the benefits of the program.
“We spend a lot of time at work, so it’s a great opportunity for employers to impact the health and well-being of not only their employees, but their families because the things employees are learning, they are taking the same practices home and helping to create a healthier family environment,” she says.
Studies by AHA show “of employees who feel encouraged by senior management to participate in workplace health programs, 69 percent report those programs have a strong impact on job satisfaction, and 63 percent cite the availability of programs as important to staying with their current employer.”
In the AHA’s CEO Roundtable meeting in October 2016, when the idea for Workplace Health Solutions was developed, members cited resiliency as a key skill employees could develop to help them address stress. Workplace stress is linked to absenteeism, diabetes, disability, heart disease, premature death, substance abuse and turnover.
“This type of program is so important because we are reaching people where they are — in the workplace,” says Wheeler-Cooper. “We spend the majority of our time at work, so why not educate employees while they are at work and give them the tools and resources they need to live a healthier and more productive life?”
Tools and resources available to employers and employees who sign up for Workplace Health Solutions include access to My Life Check Basic, a science-based health risk assessment tool that helps people gauge and monitor their heart health. The assessment targets AHA’s Life’s Simple 7, which are important predictors of heart health. Life’s Simple 7 activities include controlling cholesterol, eating better, getting active, losing weight, managing blood pressure, reducing blood sugar and stopping smoking.
And the employer stands to benefit from a healthy workforce, with improved cognitive function, longevity, productivity and quality of life, plus a lower risk for cancer, diabetes, depression, heart disease and stroke.
“Our tagline is ‘life is why,’” Wheeler-Cooper says, adding that it’s meant to resonate by making a personal connection with each individual. “Each employee has a personal why, why they choose to have a healthier life [and] be engaged with AHA...Life is why the AHA exists. Life is why we have programs like Workplace Health Solutions. All our programs revolve around having a high quality of life. We want folks to live long and have a high quality of life so that they can spend more time with their loved ones.”
Employees enroll in Workplace Health Solutions, and it’s geared toward both the employer and employee, but the AHA offers numerous free resources and programs that are available for the individual through its website heart.org. Programs include Healthy for Good, a movement focused on adding color, being well, eating smart and moving more.
“I think we all know eating healthy, exercising, not smoking — all of those things are things we’ve always heard. These aren’t new messages, people just aren’t taking heed of them,” says Wheeler-Cooper. “I think they feel, ‘it will never happen to me, so I don’t have to worry about that.’ Then when it impacts someone they love, or they are personally impacted, they look through the lens from a different perspective, and it becomes very personal to them.”
Why should you quit smoking?
Why should you control cholesterol?
Why should you reduce your blood sugar?
Life is why.