KAPAA — Kathy Leonard knows what it takes to win the Worksite Wellness Challenge. She was a coach for the Sheraton Kauai Resort when it won in the program’s inaugural year. “I’ve been through all the challenges,” she said. During
KAPAA — Kathy Leonard knows what it takes to win the Worksite Wellness Challenge.
She was a coach for the Sheraton Kauai Resort when it won in the program’s inaugural year.
“I’ve been through all the challenges,” she said.
During Friday’s kickoff breakfast at the Courtyard by Marriott at Coconut Beach for this year’s competition, Leonard was doing double duty. She’s signed on to coach the Ohana Home Health team, but was filling in and helping coach the Kauai Coffee team.
The key to success, she said, no matter what your business, is making policy changes.
“First of all, that gives you the most points. But the bonus on that is, it’s a sustainable change,” she said. “After this nine months is over, you might take down the signs or forget. If it’s a policy, you’re going to keep it and it will last. And that’s what the real point of this whole thing is, making lasting changes.”
About 80 people representing 16 of 17 teams from businesses and agencies, both private and public, turned out for the opening day of Worksite Wellness Challenge, whose goal is to promote health within employers and employees.
Through October, each team will seek to improve upon their starting survey score — based on a point system in areas of general health environment, physical activity, nutrition, tobacco use and stress management.
The survey includes 41 questions or statements, each worth a few points, with topics ranging from annual wellness program reviews, bike racks, on-site gardening, water coolers, policies on banning tobacco use and space where employees can practice yoga or meditate.
The same questions will be answered at the end of challenge. The team with the largest scoring increase will take the title.
This year’s teams include Kauai Marriott Resort, Syngenta, Kauai Community College, Kauai County, Wilcox Memorial Hospital, The Cliffs, Costco, the Grand Hyatt, Grove Farm, and Kauai Island Utility Cooperative.
Bev Brody, director of Get Fit Kauai which oversees the program, liked the energy and enthusiasm in the room as teams and their coaches met to discuss their strategies and starting points. Changes will be short and long term and likely include obstacles and solutions.
“This is wonderful, we’re off to a great start,” Brody said.
Faith Campbell, marketing manager with Wilcox Memorial Hospital, liked what she was seeing and hearing.
“The best thing about this program is really trying to get the community to be more healthy and understanding how with small changes you can live a better lifestyle,” she said. “And that’s what we want for everybody.”
Eva LaBarge is a community benefits manager at Wilcox hospital and also a coach for the Grove Farm team. It didn’t take long to identify some challenges and incorporate ideas for making things better.
“The key is policy change,” she said.
She believes in the Worksite Wellness Challenge because it is something that benefits the community. Consistency with exercise and nutrition is important, she said, which is why the program emphasizes change that will last.
“How do we get people to continue to maintain, so we’re going to work on that,” LaBarage said.
For the first time, the Worksite Wellness Challenge will be evaluated.
Michelle Martinez has been contracted by Get Fit Kauai to do the evaluation. Among her tasks is to determine the program’s effectiveness, what works and where improvements could be made.
Kaiser Permanente has signed on to sponsor the Worksite Wellness Challenge for three years.
“We want to know its impact so we can be a little more definitive about what components are actually working,” Martinez said.
Brody, while looking forward to the evaluation and generating hard data about the challenge, said she has seen changes for the better that resulted from it, in both bosses and workers – which carries back home and into the community.
“It definitely has some impact,” she said.
Leonard, meanwhile, is looking forward to helping Ohana Home Health become its best — and perhaps claiming the team title.
“They’re trying to get people healthy in the home and we’re trying to keep their employees healthy to let them do their job,” she said.
