The Wellness Corner: Part Two

Check out what employees are saying about year one of the Employee Wellness Committee’s comprehensive Worksite Wellness Incentive Plan, and how it has made a difference in their day-to-day lives.

Have a wellness story you’d like to share on Healthy Times? Here’s examples of things you may want to share: a favorite healthy recipe (take pictures of the recipe at various stages and include with your directions/ingredients); a favorite music playlist you use when exercising (take a picture using your music device and include with names of songs and/or artists on your playlist); health milestones you achieve as a result of wellness activities; and invitations to community wellness events. Get creative and have fun with the stories you share! Send your stories to Greg Hiles.

Miss the stories from earlier this week? Click here. More wellness stories coming soon…

Ice Cream Social a scooping success

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The Public Health Employee Association (EA) hosted its Ice Cream Social on July 24 at 805B Newtown Circle.

As part of Public Health Employee Association’s new Ice Cream Social, employees had the opportunity to enjoy a variety of ice cream, treats and quality time with co-workers. Staff helped contribute more than $250 to the Employee Association to help fund future staff activities. As a result of the recent Internal Education and Awareness Quality Improvement Project, employees also had the opportunity to purchase health department shirts at a reduced cost.

Betty Jones, Vital Statistics, and Kelli Gould, WIC, won $20 Kroger gift card door prizes for attending the event. Employees also had the opportunity to purchase raffle tickets for a chance to win one of three other prizes. Those winners were: Greg Hiles, Administration ($50 cash); Cristina Hiten, WIC ($50 manicure/pedicure gift basket); and Pam Hopkins, Environmental Health ($50 Lowe’s gift card).

The Employee Association wants to thank all employees who attended and supported this new event. The EA looks forward to seeing you at their next event, the Public Health Employee Picnic on Tuesday, Aug. 27. Save the date!

The Wellness Corner: Part One

Check out what employees are saying about year one of the Employee Wellness Committee’s comprehensive Worksite Wellness Incentive Plan, and how it has made a difference in their day-to-day lives.

Have a wellness story you’d like to share on Healthy Times? Here’s examples of things you may want to share: a favorite healthy recipe (take pictures of the recipe at various stages and include with your directions/ingredients); a favorite music playlist you use when exercising (take a picture using your music device and include with names of songs and/or artists on your playlist); health milestones you achieve as a result of wellness activities; and invitations to community wellness events. Get creative and have fun with the stories you share! Send your stories to Greg Hiles.

More wellness stories coming soon…

Getting to Know: Darin Swartz

Name: Darin Swartz

Job Title & Program: Accounting/Finance Coordinator, Administration

Years Worked at LFCHD: 7

Favorite Thing About Working at LFCHD: The people.

Previous Job: Financial Sales at Northwestern Mutual

Favorite Movie: Tie between Tommy Boy and Scarface

Favorite Singer/Band/Musician: Zac Brown Band

Favorite Book: 4-Hour Work Week

Favorite Place to Eat: Maggiano’s Little Italy

Favorite Hobbies: Fishing, hunting and spending time with family.

Dream Vacation: Waterside bungalow in Tahiti

Want your fellow employees to get to know you better? Visit the Know Your Co-Worker post, fill out the form, choose “submit” and your feature will appear in a future edition of Healthy Times (Please note: If you have recently filled out a Know Your Co-Worker form but haven’t seen it appear on Healthy Times yet, please contact Greg Hiles.)

Wellness challenges to conclude with final weigh-ins

Teams are neck-and-neck. Groups and individuals are taking some last minute strides to see if they can step up and become the winners of the Group Weight Loss and BeFit challenges. Which group (and individual) will take the grand prizes? You’ll soon find out! These challenges will soon conclude with our final weigh-ins and measurements!

Weigh-ins for individuals/teams in the Group Weight Loss Challenge will take place:

• 11 a.m.-1 p.m. July 30, Aug. 1, Aug 6, Aug 7 and Aug 8, at 650 Newtown Pike and 805 Newtown Circle
• 10-11 a.m. July 31 at 2433 Regency Road

Body fat percentages for those in the Be Fit competition will be done by appointment only at 650 Newtown Pike and 805 Newtown Circle during these dates/times (no appointments needed at Regency on July 31)!

• You MUST SIGN UP with Nancy Hiner (x2344) or Melissa Smith (x2473) by Monday, July 29. Appointments will help decrease wait time! Appointments available every 10 minutes.

In case you missed it, teams participating in the GWLC have lost between 6 and 32 lbs. They’ve seen drops in clothing sizes, reduced blood pressure and reduced medication as a result of more exercise and positive diet changes.

Congratulations to all the teams participating. The Employee Wellness Committee thanks you for your dedication. Keep it up!

Waters recognized by state for regional efforts

Andy Waters recently received recognition from the state for his role as a regional epidemiologist. There are 17 epidemiologists across the state who handle investigations and expertise at the local levels, acting as liaisons with the Kentucky Department for Public Health and the CDC for communicable disease. Regions are determined by population size and disease burden. Congratulations to Andy for his service!

The countdown is on: Wellness challenges wrap up soon

It’s now down to the wire for groups competing in the Group Weight Loss Challenge, and the progress for the past two months has been great!

Here are some highlights from the teams:

• Increase in exercise and physical activity: cardio and strength training, gardening/yard work, yoga, Zumba, hula hoop-ing, walking, playing games X-Box Kinect, jump roping, biking, hiking, rollerblading, boxing, swimming and dancing. Groups have also participated in the employee walking program and exercise classes, such as the 10/10/10 class, walking during breaks, taking walks as a group and discussing with each other about daily exercise and progress.
• Efforts to eat healthier with changes in eating habits: increasing fruits and vegetable intake and fiber intake, drinking more water, cutting out junk food and limiting sweets, eating more home-cooked meals and less restaurant food.

Congratulations to the teams for reporting these milestones:

• dropping clothing sizes,
• reducing medication as a result of diet and exercise
• and reduced blood pressure.

So far, groups have lost from 6-32 lbs! Keep up the good work!

New HR training opportunity for supervisors

As you may know, “Talkin’ About My Generation,” gave employees an understanding of the similarities and differences between the four generations of people who work at the LFCHD, and explored ways to bridge the generation gaps.

But what about managing these different generations?

Human Resources will now offer a NEW class for coordinators, team leaders, managers and officers, called “Managing the Generations“, which will provide helpful information and tips on how to manage diverse groups of employees.

Click thru to learn more, and to sign up for this opportunity.

Ice Cream Social features raffles, wellness points & more

The Public Health Employee Association looks forward to seeing you at the Ice Cream Social! In addition to catching up with your co-workers, you’ll also have the opportunity to win many prizes and earn wellness points as part of this event.

Survey results
According to the survey you took last week, prizes you would like to have the opportunity to win most were: cash, and gift cards to a home improvement store and manicure/pedicure.

Raffle prizes
How do you enter raffles to win one of these three prizes? You will ONLY be able to purchase raffle tickets at the event. There will be three separate raffles for each of these prizes above. You choose which raffle(s) your tickets go into.

• $1= 1 ticket
• $5 =10 tickets

Cash or checks accepted (checks can be made payable to LFCHD Employee Association). Contributions made as part of this event will put toward future employee events.

20-50 WELLNESS
POINTS

Earn wellness points, too
Purchase 10 tickets and you’ll earn 20 wellness incentive points. Buy 20 tickets and you’ll earn 50 points max!

You’ll also be entered into a raffle to win one (of two) door prizes just for attending! See you there!

Last call to sign up for “Generation” class

Have you had a chance to talk about your generation and to learn about the other generations that work at the health department? How well do you really know your co-workers and how different influences have shaped their outlooks on life and work? You still have the chance to gain a better understanding your colleagues by signing up for the last HR training session, “Talkin’ About My Generation.”

Click thru to learn more, and to sign up for the July 31 (final) session.