Bringing Wellness to the Workplace
You may not know all of the layers that make up Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC). Yes, we offer health insurance coverage. But, we do so much more. We have nurses, doctors, nutritionists, and dieticians on staff. Some of our wellness-focused roles sit on my team, Client Health Promotion.
Defining the jargon
When I tell my friends that I work at Blue Cross NC in Client Health Promotion, they aren’t really sure what I do. Simply put, my team is passionate about changing the lives of employees by giving useful health solutions.
How do we do it? We partner with organizations to deliver health management solutions that maximize engagement, strengthen employee well-being and improve outcomes.
Our team has been working with groups for over a decade. Our programs range from resilience training to prepping staff for their first 5K.
A job that’s easy to love
In the early stages of my career at Blue Cross NC, I traveled across North Carolina going to health fairs, open enrollment meetings, and health education events. Representing Blue Cross NC at these events was always rewarding. Why? Because I connected with our members, my neighbors.
I heard their stories, I learned about their jobs and their families, and I shared facts with them that could impact their lives for the better. To me, this is more than just a job. Those experiences shaped my values on how we make and deliver health and wellbeing programs today.
What employers and employees get out of it
Employers want to support their workforce on their health journey. They want to offer simple, fun, and motivating programs. Companies want their work environment to support healthy choices. The Client Health Promotion team passionately builds and carries out programs with these values as our guiding star.
Helping to bring personalized wellness to employees
Group: Caswell County Government, 250 employees
Pairing with Blue Cross NC, Caswell County built and started an innovative approach to a wellness program through a program called “My wellness, my way.” The goal of the program was to involve staff to think outside of the wellness box, empowering them to get active and to be creative.
Employees could share photos of themselves with their families, friends, or co-workers taking part in in wellness, their way. One program participant increased their activity, losing a notable 29 pounds in 12 weeks. But, the impact on her life was more inspiring than the number on the scale. The participant noted that she was leaving for the beach the next day and that she felt comfortable going out on the beach with a bathing suit on.
Making a culture of wellness in the workplace
Group: City of Jacksonville, 550 employees
In partnership with Blue Cross NC, the City of Jacksonville aims to give resources that target life-long health problems. As well as giving routine health education information and programming opportunities, the city empowers employees to explore their areas of interests around health.
Recently, the city leadership supported an employee-sponsored wellness challenge, which aims to increase healthy actions with an end goal of losing total inches instead of weight. Through the challenge, the staff becomes wellness champions—setting up walking groups and sharing successes with others.
Helping employees establish a healthy lifestyle
Group: HAECO Americas, 2,757 employees
HAECO Americas partnered with Client Health Promotion to offer Ready, Set, Race, an 8-week challenge that encourages increased physical activity. The program is designed so that group members on both sides of the fitness spectrum can reach tailored success.
One employee joined the program and changed his whole lifestyle as a result. Not only did he take part in in many races to benefit the community, his health was forever changed. He said, “In October I had lost a total of 40 pounds and reached my target body weight. Follow-up blood work on cholesterol came back fantastic, and the doctor switched medication to the weakest statin* in the lowest available dose.”
When we hear these kinds of testimonials we know we are one step closer to reaching our goals.
Blue Cross NC offers wellness solutions as a convenience to aid our members in improving their health; results may vary.
Blue Cross NC reserves the right to change or discontinue wellness solutions at any time. Decisions regarding care should be made with the advice of a doctor.
*Statin, known as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, are a class of lipid-
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