- February 2, 2012
- 2:32 pm
- Jessica Reynolds
- no comments
Road to a healthier you
A Loyolan chats with a vendor at the University's 2012 HealthDays fair.
On Thursday, the University rolled out plans for its 2012 Wellness Program, which offers a number of incentives to employees who participate in healthy lifestyle activities and medical assessments that will be hosted throughout the year. Also, as part of this year’s program, each month’s Wellness Wednesdays lunch and learn session will be themed to a specific aspect of physical health, and employees will be able to manage their progress with Blue Cross Blue Shield’s personal online and telephone services.
February is appropriately themed, “Heart Health Month.” To kick off the month, Health Solutions, a Blue Cross Blue Shield partner, will conduct free biometric screenings for all employees at the Water Tower, Lake Shore, and Health Sciences campuses. The biometric screening involves height, weight, and blood pressure measures and a finger-stick blood test. The results will be given on site.
Screenings will occur from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (WTC and LSC) and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (HSC) on the following days:
Water Tower Campus: February 8 & 9, Beane Hall
Lake Shore Campus: February 14 & 16, Simpson Living Learning Center, Multipurpose Room
Health Sciences Campus: February 20 & 21, Stritch School of Medicine Building, Room 160
Sign up by visiting: www.hsscreeningreg.com. Login: loyola; Password: healthy
Deborah Meister, director of compensation, benefits, and HRIS for Human Resources, encourages all employees to take advantage of the free biometric screening because, “It starts their year off right. It allows someone to share their information with their doctor, so the doctor then has statistics to use when working with a patient throughout the year.”
Participating in February’s biometric screening is just one of the five ways employees can earn a $50 Cash Wellness Award (Note: you must participate in the Loyola Advantage Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO Health Plan to be eligible for the $50 cash reward). Employees will be eligible for the reward if they participate in two of the following five wellness initiatives: biometric screening, health risk assessment, annual physical, mammogram, and annual dental exam. The rewards will be paid out through payroll checks quarterly, beginning in April. To learn more, including how to submit your information to Human Resources, visit LUC.edu/hr/wellness.
Employees can also navigate their path to healthy living thanks to Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Blue Care Connection, which provides an online Personal Health Manager. Employees will be able to go online to read healthy recipes and health articles, ask a medical professional about a health issue, attend a virtual smoking cessation course, and access many other resources. Employees can also earn Blue Points for logging healthy activities into the system. You can access the Personal Health Manager by visiting www.bcbsil.com. More information on the system is also available at LUC.edu/hr/wellness.
In addition to the biometric screenings, employees can sign up for Weight Watchers for a reduced corporate rate of $35.95 per month. The classes will occur during lunchtimes on all three campuses. Loyola will reimburse employees who meet 80 percent participation during the 13-week course. Reimbursement, which will be 50 percent of each month’s cost, will be distributed after completion of the 13-week course. Click here to learn how to enroll.
The University chose to adopt monthly themes for the Wellness Wednesday Lunch and Learn presentations as a way to keep people engaged, says Meister. “People might not be interested in every topic, but certainly there’s at least one topic over the year that will interest them.” She adds, “By separating the programs, we’ll be able to really zero in on one area each month.”
March is National Nutrition Month, so the University will host programs centered around its theme, “Nutrition in a Nutshell.” For a list featuring each month’s theme, click here.
For more information about the 2012 Wellness Program, please visit LUC.edu/hr/wellness.
