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Employee Wellness
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Wanted: Wellness Champions
MUSC Employee Wellness seeks volunteers to serve as Wellness Champions.
Susan Johnson, Ph.D., program coordinator, said the goal is to create a
group of employees representing all areas of the organization in
support of MUSC Employee Wellness.
“A Wellness Champion is a staff member with a commitment to a healthy
lifestyle that serves as an ambassador for the Employee Wellness
Program,” she said. “They volunteer to assist in the implementation and
coordination of wellness initiatives. They are primarily responsible
for enthusiastically promoting wellness programs to their coworkers and
encouraging participation.”
With increasing demands at the workplace and at home, maintaining a
healthy lifestyle has become a challenge. As a result, many experience
negative effects such as increased sick days, loss of productivity,
stress-related symptoms and decreased motivation and enthusiasm at
work, she said.
MUSC Employee Wellness is a program dedicated to providing the
knowledge, skills and desire to create a positive change toward better
health for the MUSC community. Although these are worthwhile goals in
addressing lifestyle-related health concerns among employees,
significant change will only occur when individuals are actively
engaged in the process. For that reason, a new group is being formed in
an attempt to motivate, educate, and increase employee participation in
wellness initiatives here at MUSC as well as in the local community,
she said.
Wellness Champions can generate enthusiasm and participation by:
q Serving as the contact person for their department in
facilitating wellness events.
- Being a promoter and role model of wellness in
their department, the organization and the community.
- Distributing marketing and educational
information to colleagues in their department.
- Making announcements about wellness news and
events in staff meetings or via e-mail.
- Encouraging co-workers to get involved in
wellness activities.
- Creating or assisting with wellness displays in
their department/building.
- Passing along employee requests for programming
to the wellness program coordinator.
- And, most importantly, serving as a motivator
to continuously encourage fellow co-workers to lead a positive and
proactive lifestyle.
Johnson encourages employees to volunteer or nominate someone who has
the knowledge, experience or interest in helping to create an active
and healthy workforce at MUSC. For more information or to sign up,
contact Johnson at 792-1245 or johnsusa@musc. edu.
Friday, Feb. 18,
2011
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