Health Wellness ProgramHealth and Wellness Programs and Wellness Program Consulting

The backbone of wellness programming at the worksite is health evaluation. It is the first primary activity a company must do when first starting a wellness program. Health evaluation is often used in conjunction with the administration of a Health Risk Appraisal (HRA).

The most effective way to screen is to utilize a health professional trained in wellness assessment techniques and counseling to privately and individually evaluate participants. This wellness professional takes a brief health history and measures Blood Pressure (BP) and cholesterol. With computerized cholesterol desktop analyzers, results are obtained in about four minutes.

Immediate feedback, consultation, and educational materials are provided. For those identified at-risk, follow-up appointments can be scheduled at this time. The whole process takes about twenty minutes per individual. The screening also supports an immediate opportunity to register participants in various health improvement programs based on their interests and identified health risks.

Health evaluation can be done on an annual basis and used as a means of monitoring health risks within the workplace.

A health evaluation program needs to support multiple opportunities for participation. The service should be offered for all the various shifts of a employer. The evaluation program should be conducted in highly visible areas so the process can be inspected.

Reluctant staff members often like to be able to see what the program is about before they participate. When wellness screeners are not busy, they ought to perform outreach going to areas where staff members gather and attempt to recruit staff members.

When well-planned and promoted, health evaluation can attract participation rates of 60% to 100%. These high participation rates have a positive impact on management producing reinforcement for further programming.