The Wellness Council of the Midlands (WELCOM) located in Omaha, Nebraska is pleased to announce that Box Butte General Hospital recently received the prestigious “Well Workplace Gold Award” from the Wellness Council of America (WELCOA). WELCOM, the first and largest Wellness Council in the United States, was created to promote healthy lifestyles for everyone in the community, primarily through worksite health promotion activities.
So far in 2012 there have only been 33 organizations throughout the nation to receive a Well Workplace Award.
Box Butte General Hospital was the only organization to receive this award at the 10th Annual Safety and Wellness Conference held Tuesday, October 9, at the Younes Conference Center in Kearney, NE
Daniel Newhoff, Wellness Coordinator for Box Butte General Hospital, accepted the award on behalf of the organization.
“The Well Workplace initiative provides an organized, systematic, business approach to planning health promotion at the worksite,” said Rebecca Vinton Dorn, WELCOM executive director. “Each standard within the program becomes an objective for a company to achieve.” She also added that WELCOM members currently make up more than 50 of the Healthiest Companies in America. Vinton Dorn also noted that, “Organizations that have followed the seven benchmarks in the Well Workplace model are focusing their wellness initiatives on results-driven outcomes and no longer simply do ‘activities of the month’. They strive for outcomes and use our business approach around creating a supportive culture to achieve these outcomes.”
The award falls into four levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The Bronze Well Workplace Award sets the foundation of wellness at the company. The Silver level company displays active senior management support and participation in the wellness program. The Gold level company incorporates wellness into the overall mission of the company and Platinum level organizations are able to demonstrate outcomes as a result of their employee wellness initiatives.
The application process for the award is very thorough and robust. WELCOA evaluates seven different areas of each wellness program that applies for the award. WELCOA refers to these areas as the 7 C’s to success. Included in the 7 C’s to success are: Capturing CEO Support, Creating Cohesive Wellness Teams, Collecting Data to Drive Health Efforts, Crafting an Operating Plan, Choosing Appropriate Interventions, Creating a Supportive Environment, and Consistently Evaluating Outcomes. Each one of these areas is scored separately and a total score is compiled to designate what level of award received. BBGH scored a 177.1 out of a possible 180, earning it the “Gold Award” status.
“To me this Award supports the direction that BBGH Wellness is headed,” Mr. Newhoff said. “Although I think we have room for improvement, it is comforting to know we are headed in the right direction. WELCOA has provided us with a tool that we have been able to apply and implement in a way that has shown results. I am thrilled with the changes that we have seen in our employees. We have shown improvements in several of our objective areas as well as seen changes in the culture throughout the hospital. I am excited to be able to have the opportunity to actively improve the well-being of our employees and organization. I think it says a lot when your employer invests in something as important as the health of its employees, and for that I am thankful.”
Hospital CEO Dan Griess explained why BBGH is focused on improving the health and well-being of its workforce. “Our employees are our greatest asset,” he stated. “Investing time, education resources and money into our greatest asset provides a significant return in pursuit of our vision ‘to be the greatest place to receive care, the greatest place to work and the greatest place to practice medicine!’ As we continue to promote community wellness, which is part of the mission of BBGH, it is important we be the leader in the region. The patients deserve our very best and we can now state with confidence we are leading by example.”