St. Bernards Medical Center
Not all upward trends are good, especially when it involves weight and blood pressure.
Leaders at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro took note of the trends involving its employees and aimed to do something about it.
117
St. Bernards’ years in operation
2014
Year St. Bernards’ HealthBeat employee health program was begun
2,000
Employees participating in St. Bernards’ HealthBeat program
A hospital environment, with its long hours, shift work and stressful situations offers challenges enough to the critical caregivers and clinical caretakers of a community. Less than optimal employee health can cause an increase in errors and injuries, higher insurance premiums caused by increased claims, health-related absences, increased health care costs and reduced quality of life for employees outside work.
St. Bernards’ negative employee health trends raised the question of how a hospital can provide healthy living to patients but not employees.
The answer was the 2014 debut of the employee wellness program HealthBeat.
Available to all staff members, with or without the hospital’s insurance plan, HealthBeat is a multifaceted program whose goal is to support a work environment that encourages employees to protect and improve their health.
The program, led by longtime health educators Karan Summitt and Lisa Weir, features yearly health screenings, an onsite clinic and pharmacy, nearby walking paths, health education and chronic disease management programs, a free life health coach, incentives and insurance discounts and much more.
Participation in HealthBeat has grown from 700 to to 2,000 in two years and participation in the life health coach program has grown from 70 to 300.
St. Bernards has also adopted the wellness tracking software program Motivation Alliance, and has increased to 50 percent the healthy options available in vending machines and quick service areas, with 70 percent the ultimate goal. On-campus food service standards are established using the American Heart Association Healthy Worksite Food and Beverage Guidelines.
The participation numbers speak to HealthBeat’s success, but others are starting to notice. In 2017 St. Bernards earned a Bronze Level American Heart Association Healthy Worksite Award.
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