WAIPOULI — Tanelle Martin of the Kauai Coffee team said the Get Fit Kauai Worksite Wellness Challenge was fun, but hard. “Bev Brody was our coach,” Martin said. “She did the leading. We just followed. This was the first time
WAIPOULI — Tanelle Martin of the Kauai Coffee team said the Get Fit Kauai Worksite Wellness Challenge was fun, but hard.
“Bev Brody was our coach,” Martin said. “She did the leading. We just followed. This was the first time we took part in something like this.”
The Kauai Coffee team was one of 17 teams that took on the Worksite Wellness Challenge that started in February and concluded Oct. 31. Overall, the team finished sixth.
“The hardest part of the challenge was getting employees to get in,” said Ken Gray, a Kauai Coffee team leader.
Teams were assigned a coach who helped the team set healthy goals that reflect policy, and systemic and/or built environment changes in the worksite. Survey topics embraced general health, physical activity, nutrition, tobacco control and stress reduction.
Winners were based on the point differences from the starting survey to the ending survey, and the point difference becoming the team’s final score.
Wilcox Health started with 21 points and ended with a perfect score of 131 points for a 110-point difference to claim top honors for the 2016 Worksite Wellness Challenge.
Among the accomplishments the Wilcox Health team did to secure its top billing:
w Implemented a workplace wellbeing policy and committee.
w Adopted a healthy food and beverage policy for its cafe, catering and vending machines.
w Identified healthier food and beverage choices with signs and symbols in its cafe.
w Built an exercise room which is available seven days a week at no charge to its employees.
w Created a smoke- and tobacco-free environment policy.
Grove Farm finished in second place with a differential of 86 points. YeeCorp Financial finished just five points ahead of Kauai Juice Company for third place with 79 points to the Juice Company’s 74 points.
YeeCorp established a Worksite Wellness Committee that meets regularly, added six new policies affecting wellness, healthy food and tobacco use, conducted a radio interview with Marc Valentin and Bev Brody on KQNG Radio, added health-insurance benefits to aid in tobacco cessation, and has a policy to promote healthy foods, and to provide healthy options at meetings and events.
“This is great,” said Brody. “We had 17 teams starting the challenge, and we finished with 17 teams. This was also the most engaged challenge we’ve had.”
