Karen O'Hora is 18 pounds lighter.
Since the 48-year-old Auburn resident began walking on a treadmill late last November, she's lost weight with a fitness routine that once eluded her.
Since the 48-year-old Auburn resident began walking on a treadmill late last November, she's lost weight with a fitness routine that once eluded her.
Linda Ober / The Citizen
Catherine Bohin, of Skaneateles, often comes as early as 6 a.m. to get a workout in before she starts her day in Welch Allyn's credit department.
Catherine Bohin, of Skaneateles, often comes as early as 6 a.m. to get a workout in before she starts her day in Welch Allyn's credit department.
The difference now is that she doesn't have to go to the gym - the gym comes to her. O'Hora is one of the 470 members of Welch Allyn's main fitness center.
"When you get home you don't feel like going anywhere else," said O'Hora, an assembler with the Skaneateles Falls corporation since October. "I just run right up here, and it makes it easy."
"Here" is a well-lit, large room filled with treadmills, step machines and free weights. Classes meet regularly for Pilates or abdominal training, and membership is a mere $3.50 per week deducted from an employee's paycheck (staff can bring their spouses or children over 16 for the same price).
On a recent afternoon, sweat poured from the brows of everyone from marketing and credit staff to CEO Peter Soderberg.
"We view our employees as an asset, and we want to invest in that asset," said Welch Allyn Health Services Advisor Kathleen Garofalo.
Garofalo said that various Welch Allyn wellness programs - from healthier cafeteria food to insurance discounts - have been initiated in the past 10 years in hopes of increasing worker health, and ultimately, productivity.
While Welch Allyn's offerings are indeed extensive, other local and national businesses offer their own versions of wellness in the workplace.
It's not uncommon to see titles such as wellness manager or employee fitness coordinator, and there are several companies and publications devoted to creating such programs or improving those already in existence.
According to a 2004 American Management Association survey, 55 percent of association members offer exercise and fitness programs, compared with 47 percent in 2003. Weight, stress and blood pressure management programs are all up by 13 percent.
At Auburn Memorial Hospital, a 24-hour fitness room allows doctors and nurses to take their own advice and hop on treadmills or step machines.
"It's used a lot," said employee health and infection control nurse Donna Wrobel. "We have all three shifts participate."
And every Monday, a group of employees gathers for a Weight Watchers meeting.
The get-together is one of about 200 regional at-work meetings, said Karen Murphy, public relations manager of Weight Watchers of Syracuse, which serves Cayuga County. The meetings are initiated by individual employees, company nurses or the human resources staff, Murphy said.
"They're growing because they're very convenient," Murphy said, noting that women with young children are often pressed for time. Weight Watchers is training people "left and right" to keep up with the demand, she added.
Health programs are not the sole domain of corporations, however - the county is also getting in on the wellness trend.
A few times a year, the health department sets up a table or provides blood pressure testing for employee fairs at places such as Stroehmann's Bakeries in Auburn and the Auburn Correctional Facility, said Val White, health educator for the department. White said these events began about three years ago.
And a subcommittee of the county's labor management committee was recently formed to focus on employee wellness, said committee member Michele Sedor, D-Sennett.
Early this year, the committee partnered with the American Cancer Society, the Cayuga County Healthy Men and Women Partnership and area doctors for "Fabulous at 50," a half hour devoted to colonoscopies.
Members are now looking to create more regular health-oriented employee programs, including hall and stairwell-walking on the six-floor county office building and weekly meetings with local physicians.
"It's an investment that's going to pay off in the long run," said Sedor, noting that wellness programs could result in less sick days in departments that are already pressed for staff. "The overall benefits on both sides are enormous."
The county's reasons for workplace initiatives are two-fold and in line with the thinking of many major corporations.
First, it wants healthy employees. Second, it's looking at the numbers.
"When you're healthy, there's not a need for all the medicines that are driving up the costs of health insurance," said Sedor, who hopes to get some money put aside in the 2006 county budget for wellness programs.
"It's all about preventative medicine. The costs involved are much less if it's done before diagnosis."
Marie Warda, chairman of the Worksite Health Alliance of Greater Rochester, a member council of the Wellness Councils of America, agrees.
"In general, health care costs are going through the roof," Warda said, noting that companies are now focusing on a variety of activities to lower cholesterol, increase physical activity, reduce blood pressure and stop smoking.
"Health insurance premiums are skyrocketing because they're dealing with these long-term debilitating issues related to these unhealthy habits."
The three-year-old alliance has 53 members, including large and small businesses and towns. These members use the alliance to obtain ideas for developing wellness programs and promoting health in the workplace.
Companies get these ideas from attending monthly meetings and educational seminars. Seminar topics include workplace violence, depression and handling stress, a subject that Welch Allyn's Soderberg knows well.
"(I exercise) to keep myself on a very even emotional plain," Soderberg said while on a step machine one afternoon. "With my job, you've got to project a sense of calmness. To me, exercise is the best way to do that."
When it comes down to it, taking a break from the daily grind by walking a few extra steps may also help to boost employee morale.
"I think people feel 'If my employer cares enough to care about me, then I care enough to work here and work well,' " Warda said.
Staff writer Linda Ober can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or linda.ober@lee.net
"When you get home you don't feel like going anywhere else," said O'Hora, an assembler with the Skaneateles Falls corporation since October. "I just run right up here, and it makes it easy."
"Here" is a well-lit, large room filled with treadmills, step machines and free weights. Classes meet regularly for Pilates or abdominal training, and membership is a mere $3.50 per week deducted from an employee's paycheck (staff can bring their spouses or children over 16 for the same price).
On a recent afternoon, sweat poured from the brows of everyone from marketing and credit staff to CEO Peter Soderberg.
"We view our employees as an asset, and we want to invest in that asset," said Welch Allyn Health Services Advisor Kathleen Garofalo.
Garofalo said that various Welch Allyn wellness programs - from healthier cafeteria food to insurance discounts - have been initiated in the past 10 years in hopes of increasing worker health, and ultimately, productivity.
While Welch Allyn's offerings are indeed extensive, other local and national businesses offer their own versions of wellness in the workplace.
It's not uncommon to see titles such as wellness manager or employee fitness coordinator, and there are several companies and publications devoted to creating such programs or improving those already in existence.
According to a 2004 American Management Association survey, 55 percent of association members offer exercise and fitness programs, compared with 47 percent in 2003. Weight, stress and blood pressure management programs are all up by 13 percent.
At Auburn Memorial Hospital, a 24-hour fitness room allows doctors and nurses to take their own advice and hop on treadmills or step machines.
"It's used a lot," said employee health and infection control nurse Donna Wrobel. "We have all three shifts participate."
And every Monday, a group of employees gathers for a Weight Watchers meeting.
The get-together is one of about 200 regional at-work meetings, said Karen Murphy, public relations manager of Weight Watchers of Syracuse, which serves Cayuga County. The meetings are initiated by individual employees, company nurses or the human resources staff, Murphy said.
"They're growing because they're very convenient," Murphy said, noting that women with young children are often pressed for time. Weight Watchers is training people "left and right" to keep up with the demand, she added.
Health programs are not the sole domain of corporations, however - the county is also getting in on the wellness trend.
A few times a year, the health department sets up a table or provides blood pressure testing for employee fairs at places such as Stroehmann's Bakeries in Auburn and the Auburn Correctional Facility, said Val White, health educator for the department. White said these events began about three years ago.
And a subcommittee of the county's labor management committee was recently formed to focus on employee wellness, said committee member Michele Sedor, D-Sennett.
Early this year, the committee partnered with the American Cancer Society, the Cayuga County Healthy Men and Women Partnership and area doctors for "Fabulous at 50," a half hour devoted to colonoscopies.
Members are now looking to create more regular health-oriented employee programs, including hall and stairwell-walking on the six-floor county office building and weekly meetings with local physicians.
"It's an investment that's going to pay off in the long run," said Sedor, noting that wellness programs could result in less sick days in departments that are already pressed for staff. "The overall benefits on both sides are enormous."
The county's reasons for workplace initiatives are two-fold and in line with the thinking of many major corporations.
First, it wants healthy employees. Second, it's looking at the numbers.
"When you're healthy, there's not a need for all the medicines that are driving up the costs of health insurance," said Sedor, who hopes to get some money put aside in the 2006 county budget for wellness programs.
"It's all about preventative medicine. The costs involved are much less if it's done before diagnosis."
Marie Warda, chairman of the Worksite Health Alliance of Greater Rochester, a member council of the Wellness Councils of America, agrees.
"In general, health care costs are going through the roof," Warda said, noting that companies are now focusing on a variety of activities to lower cholesterol, increase physical activity, reduce blood pressure and stop smoking.
"Health insurance premiums are skyrocketing because they're dealing with these long-term debilitating issues related to these unhealthy habits."
The three-year-old alliance has 53 members, including large and small businesses and towns. These members use the alliance to obtain ideas for developing wellness programs and promoting health in the workplace.
Companies get these ideas from attending monthly meetings and educational seminars. Seminar topics include workplace violence, depression and handling stress, a subject that Welch Allyn's Soderberg knows well.
"(I exercise) to keep myself on a very even emotional plain," Soderberg said while on a step machine one afternoon. "With my job, you've got to project a sense of calmness. To me, exercise is the best way to do that."
When it comes down to it, taking a break from the daily grind by walking a few extra steps may also help to boost employee morale.
"I think people feel 'If my employer cares enough to care about me, then I care enough to work here and work well,' " Warda said.
Staff writer Linda Ober can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or linda.ober@lee.net
The Citizens' Say
There are No comments posted.