E & E Wellness Solutions, LLC
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Affordable relief! Check out our new site and see just how affordable it is to get top quality chiropractic care in Sarasota.
http://ping.fm/lgFp3
http://ping.fm/lgFp3
Thursday, August 19, 2010
For anyone interested in providing corporate or community wellness programming, check out the Wellness Coordinator Certification Program starting September 9th at SCF. http://ping.fm/RMjh8
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Starting this September 9th, State College of Florida will be offering a Wellness Coordinator Certification program at the Lakewood Ranch Campus. http://ping.fm/raaPf
Monday, August 9, 2010
A great video about obesity and how to involve your family in proper nutrition. http://ping.fm/LS42h
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Press release from BIZ941 on the Wellness Coordinator Certification program offered at State College of Florida. Check it out - http://ping.fm/nthma
Friday, July 30, 2010
If you haven't seen this movie. It is a must see. But, be warned. You won't look at food the same again!
http://ping.fm/R6xuv
http://ping.fm/R6xuv
Thursday, July 29, 2010
After researching this new product, I wanted to share it with you. The principles behind the program are solid in that it is not a "diet". It is a process of eating properly and really explains how food interacts with your body.
Click here for more info!
Click here for more info!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Please join me for a live demo of our Virtual Wellness Training program. You can register here:
http://ping.fm/zqXZ6
http://ping.fm/zqXZ6
Monday, July 26, 2010
Health Reform Implementation Timeline by Keiser Family Foundation.
http://www.kff.org/healthreform/8060.cfm
http://www.kff.org/healthreform/8060.cfm
Friday, July 23, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Want to lose weight? Stop Dieting!
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/to-control-your-weight-stop-dieting.html
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Employee Wellness has become one of the most cost effective strategies to control the escalating health care costs and increase employee retention and loyalty http://ping.fm/0SeQ8
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Comprehensive Employee Wellness Programming To Control Your Rising Health Care Costs
Employer sponsored health insurance premiums have risen 131% in the past ten years. What plans do you have in place to control the projected increases in the future? While decreasing overall benefits may be a short-term solution, it is clear that this strategy could severely undermine the long-term productivity, loyalty and retention of your workforce. There is little doubt that employee wellness programming is no longer a luxury or perk, but is quickly becoming a necessity. To control the spiraling, out-of-control costs associated with providing health care to employees, it is absolutely essential that organizations attract and retain healthy, fit employees and executives. As many organizations grapple with the different wellness programming options available, it is important to begin with the end in mind. To realize the best return on your wellness investment, it is necessary to shift the culture of your organization away from one of sickness and low productivity to one toward wellness and record breaking performance.
Fortunately, numerous studies indicate that comprehensive wellness programming has become the most critical strategy to insulate organizations from the escalating health care costs that affect your profitability. In fact, as a result of fewer medical, disability and workers' compensation claims, these studies show that for every $1 invested in a sound wellness program, organizations experience and average return-on-investment of $3.50 to $5.93. With the impending new rules surrounding the recent health care reform legislation, one thing is for sure – companies that fail to incorporate comprehensive employee wellness programming will face tremendous challenges to their profitability, productivity and workforce retention.
Getting the Bank for the Buck
Several factors need to be considered to get the greatest ROI from a comprehensive employee wellness initiative. First, even before starting a program, careful consideration needs to be taken in what programs your employees actually want. Starting a benefits focus group with representative employees from several departments will go a long way in employee participation in any program implemented. Studies show that the more employee contribution you get in the design of a program, the greater the acceptance you will ultimately experience. Second, the program needs to be strategically designed. One piece of the program should naturally progress to the next step, building momentum as you go. Scheduling a biometric screening should be done before a health risk assessment, simply because some of the questions on an HSA require blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose numbers. Holding a health fair before a biometric screening and the HSA makes no sense. If you have representatives from the local diabetes prevention program available, many employees may not even know they are at risk.
Next, it’s important to set up a sound incentive program that awards credits and or cash for participation in each component of the program. For example, cash can be earned by completing designed wellness activities. Those activities can include biking to work, participation with a community weight loss program, taking diabetes prevention classes, taking a health and fitness screening, nutritional classes, etc. Reward credits can be awarded to reduce an employee’s deductible, co-insurance or increase their health savings account. This can include completing a health risk assessment, receiving a preventative adult physical, annual preventative gynecological exam, routine eye exam or annual preventative dental exam.
As a result of the recent health care reform legislation, the Department of Health and Human Services is developing guidelines for comprehensive employee wellness programming. Although in the early stages, a “comprehensive” employee wellness program must include the following four components; health education that includes seminars and workshops as well as health fairs and screenings, employee engagement that encourages participation, support that includes on-site policies, incentives and employee input and behavioral change components that address tobacco use, obesity, diabetes, stress management, physical fitness, nutrition, substance abuse and depression.
Its one thing to implement all these programs, incentives and educational classes, but to generate the maximum ROI, there needs to be a shift in the entire culture of the organization. For anyone that has attempted to loose weight and start exercising, its very difficult when you come to work to have several of your co-workers eating doughnuts for breakfast and ordering pizza for lunch in the cubicle next to you. A solid corporate wide policy transition needs to take place that encourages healthier habits and makes these habits the norm rather than the exception. From the CEO to the secretarial pool to the maintenance staff, the communication and environment should reflect the goals of the company for their employees. If that goal is to be highly productive, healthy and full of energy and enthusiasm, then a paradigm shift needs to take place.
Despite the recent health care legislation, or possibly because of it, companies that invest in comprehensive employee wellness programming will not only save tremendous sums of money on health insurance premiums and disability and workers' compensation claims. But, at the same time, position them to attract the healthiest, fit and highly productive employees and executives.
For more information, please visit:
Comprehensive Wellness Training For Your Employees
Fortunately, numerous studies indicate that comprehensive wellness programming has become the most critical strategy to insulate organizations from the escalating health care costs that affect your profitability. In fact, as a result of fewer medical, disability and workers' compensation claims, these studies show that for every $1 invested in a sound wellness program, organizations experience and average return-on-investment of $3.50 to $5.93. With the impending new rules surrounding the recent health care reform legislation, one thing is for sure – companies that fail to incorporate comprehensive employee wellness programming will face tremendous challenges to their profitability, productivity and workforce retention.
Getting the Bank for the Buck
Several factors need to be considered to get the greatest ROI from a comprehensive employee wellness initiative. First, even before starting a program, careful consideration needs to be taken in what programs your employees actually want. Starting a benefits focus group with representative employees from several departments will go a long way in employee participation in any program implemented. Studies show that the more employee contribution you get in the design of a program, the greater the acceptance you will ultimately experience. Second, the program needs to be strategically designed. One piece of the program should naturally progress to the next step, building momentum as you go. Scheduling a biometric screening should be done before a health risk assessment, simply because some of the questions on an HSA require blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose numbers. Holding a health fair before a biometric screening and the HSA makes no sense. If you have representatives from the local diabetes prevention program available, many employees may not even know they are at risk.
Next, it’s important to set up a sound incentive program that awards credits and or cash for participation in each component of the program. For example, cash can be earned by completing designed wellness activities. Those activities can include biking to work, participation with a community weight loss program, taking diabetes prevention classes, taking a health and fitness screening, nutritional classes, etc. Reward credits can be awarded to reduce an employee’s deductible, co-insurance or increase their health savings account. This can include completing a health risk assessment, receiving a preventative adult physical, annual preventative gynecological exam, routine eye exam or annual preventative dental exam.
As a result of the recent health care reform legislation, the Department of Health and Human Services is developing guidelines for comprehensive employee wellness programming. Although in the early stages, a “comprehensive” employee wellness program must include the following four components; health education that includes seminars and workshops as well as health fairs and screenings, employee engagement that encourages participation, support that includes on-site policies, incentives and employee input and behavioral change components that address tobacco use, obesity, diabetes, stress management, physical fitness, nutrition, substance abuse and depression.
Its one thing to implement all these programs, incentives and educational classes, but to generate the maximum ROI, there needs to be a shift in the entire culture of the organization. For anyone that has attempted to loose weight and start exercising, its very difficult when you come to work to have several of your co-workers eating doughnuts for breakfast and ordering pizza for lunch in the cubicle next to you. A solid corporate wide policy transition needs to take place that encourages healthier habits and makes these habits the norm rather than the exception. From the CEO to the secretarial pool to the maintenance staff, the communication and environment should reflect the goals of the company for their employees. If that goal is to be highly productive, healthy and full of energy and enthusiasm, then a paradigm shift needs to take place.
Despite the recent health care legislation, or possibly because of it, companies that invest in comprehensive employee wellness programming will not only save tremendous sums of money on health insurance premiums and disability and workers' compensation claims. But, at the same time, position them to attract the healthiest, fit and highly productive employees and executives.
For more information, please visit:
Comprehensive Wellness Training For Your Employees
Monday, July 12, 2010
Eliminating Ergonomic Injuries is as Simple as An Ounce of Prevention
Preventable ergonomic injuries account for fully one-third of all workplace injuries and illnesses. As a result, U.S. employers pay more than $15 billion in workers compensation claims for these injuries every year. In addition, as many as 785,000 lost work days are reported as a result of ergonomic injuries annually. These direct costs may pale in comparison to the indirect costs associated with lost employee productivity and turnover. Ergonomics is defined as; “designing the job, equipment and tools to fit the worker, and fitting the worker to the job.” Of course its important to place the right person in a particular job and making sure they have the right equipment for that job. However, there are other factors to consider in reducing the exposure of your workforce to work related injuries your business experiences. Fortunately, the vast majority of ergonomic related injuries are completely preventable, saving your company significant money and lost work time. The saying; “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” by Benjamin Franklin is as appropriate now as it was in the 1700’s.
The most common work related ergonomic injuries such as, carpal tunnel syndrome, back injuries and tendinitis are classified as musculoskeletal disorders (MSD’s) or cumulative trauma disorders (CTD’s). Regardless of the definition, these are injuries of the muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage and/or spinal discs. The costs associated with these conditions can be overwhelming, not only for the employer, but the employee as well. For example, carpal tunnel syndrome - characterized by pain in the wrist from pressure on a nerve, usually caused by repetitive, frequent, or unsupported wrist movements from an unnatural angle – is the leading cause of lost work time with nearly half of cases resulting in more than 31 days of work lost. For the employee, only 23% of the individuals requiring surgery can return to their previous profession. Nearly 36% of all CTS patients require unlimited medical treatment! Back pain is one of the most common reasons for missed work and is estimated that as many as 80% of the U.S. population will experience back pain at some point in their life.
Fortunately, many of these cases can be prevented with the proper strategy and for a relatively small investment. Creating a prevention-conscious culture will go a long way in building strong participation in your injury prevention program. The idea behind ergonomics is to simply reduce the stressors that contribute to the musculoskeletal and repetitive use injuries. Most people recognize that setting up a workstation ergonomically is important in addition to proper lifting techniques. However, its common to still see secretaries habitually holding the phone against their ear with their shoulder creating neck problems, or assembly workers performing the same movements over and over creating imbalanced muscle patterns that set the stage for injury. Another concern is the chronic and repeated use of over-the-counter pain medications and anti-inflammatory drugs to treat the symptoms of pain resulting from improper ergonomics and imbalanced function. Although this will provide temporary relief, over time this strategy will most certainly lead to a more extensive injury down the road causing further financial loss and lost productivity. The strategy of the continued use of medications for these conditions is severely limited since they only cover-up the symptoms without addressing the underlying cause of the pain and dysfunction.
In order to prevent this scenario, its necessary to create a strategy that encourages and supports employees to look for ways to diminish the stressors in their home and work environment, recognize the signs and symptoms of a problem and understand when it is appropriate to implement passive and active types of self-therapy to help relieve the underlying cause of the problem. Implementing a policy where individuals that perform phone work must utilize a headset, computer users have wrist supports, and cross-training assembly workers to rotate to different stations if possible to reduce the day-to-day repetitive motions they are exposed to.
In the early stages, several self-administered passive and active therapies can have not only a pain relief effect, but a healing effect as well. Nearly all of these injuries will respond favorably to ice therapy, massage, stretching and strengthening exercises. For example, people experiencing carpal tunnel pain will often have tight and sore muscles in the back of the forearm. These tight muscles contribute to the wrist pain by restricting the normal motion of the wrist bones and can be relieved by using light, but firm massage pressure on the affected muscles. Stretching the affected muscles is also an important self-directed therapy that will alleviate the underlying muscle tension. The underlying cause of many cases of back pain can be due to weak core strength. Performing the correct core exercises combined with stretching, massage, manipulation and ice therapy can have tremendous advantages to prevent full blown injuries to the muscles, discs and ligaments. For sure, if someone experiences severe, sharp pain they should consult with a qualified health care provider.
For business leaders that are concerned about the high costs of health care and the recent health care reform legislation, the time is now to develop a comprehensive prevention strategy for the ergonomic injuries that are draining the profitability out of your business.
For more information, please see us at:
Eliminate Costly Work-Related Injuries That are Draining the Profitability out of Your Business
The most common work related ergonomic injuries such as, carpal tunnel syndrome, back injuries and tendinitis are classified as musculoskeletal disorders (MSD’s) or cumulative trauma disorders (CTD’s). Regardless of the definition, these are injuries of the muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage and/or spinal discs. The costs associated with these conditions can be overwhelming, not only for the employer, but the employee as well. For example, carpal tunnel syndrome - characterized by pain in the wrist from pressure on a nerve, usually caused by repetitive, frequent, or unsupported wrist movements from an unnatural angle – is the leading cause of lost work time with nearly half of cases resulting in more than 31 days of work lost. For the employee, only 23% of the individuals requiring surgery can return to their previous profession. Nearly 36% of all CTS patients require unlimited medical treatment! Back pain is one of the most common reasons for missed work and is estimated that as many as 80% of the U.S. population will experience back pain at some point in their life.
Fortunately, many of these cases can be prevented with the proper strategy and for a relatively small investment. Creating a prevention-conscious culture will go a long way in building strong participation in your injury prevention program. The idea behind ergonomics is to simply reduce the stressors that contribute to the musculoskeletal and repetitive use injuries. Most people recognize that setting up a workstation ergonomically is important in addition to proper lifting techniques. However, its common to still see secretaries habitually holding the phone against their ear with their shoulder creating neck problems, or assembly workers performing the same movements over and over creating imbalanced muscle patterns that set the stage for injury. Another concern is the chronic and repeated use of over-the-counter pain medications and anti-inflammatory drugs to treat the symptoms of pain resulting from improper ergonomics and imbalanced function. Although this will provide temporary relief, over time this strategy will most certainly lead to a more extensive injury down the road causing further financial loss and lost productivity. The strategy of the continued use of medications for these conditions is severely limited since they only cover-up the symptoms without addressing the underlying cause of the pain and dysfunction.
In order to prevent this scenario, its necessary to create a strategy that encourages and supports employees to look for ways to diminish the stressors in their home and work environment, recognize the signs and symptoms of a problem and understand when it is appropriate to implement passive and active types of self-therapy to help relieve the underlying cause of the problem. Implementing a policy where individuals that perform phone work must utilize a headset, computer users have wrist supports, and cross-training assembly workers to rotate to different stations if possible to reduce the day-to-day repetitive motions they are exposed to.
In the early stages, several self-administered passive and active therapies can have not only a pain relief effect, but a healing effect as well. Nearly all of these injuries will respond favorably to ice therapy, massage, stretching and strengthening exercises. For example, people experiencing carpal tunnel pain will often have tight and sore muscles in the back of the forearm. These tight muscles contribute to the wrist pain by restricting the normal motion of the wrist bones and can be relieved by using light, but firm massage pressure on the affected muscles. Stretching the affected muscles is also an important self-directed therapy that will alleviate the underlying muscle tension. The underlying cause of many cases of back pain can be due to weak core strength. Performing the correct core exercises combined with stretching, massage, manipulation and ice therapy can have tremendous advantages to prevent full blown injuries to the muscles, discs and ligaments. For sure, if someone experiences severe, sharp pain they should consult with a qualified health care provider.
For business leaders that are concerned about the high costs of health care and the recent health care reform legislation, the time is now to develop a comprehensive prevention strategy for the ergonomic injuries that are draining the profitability out of your business.
For more information, please see us at:
Eliminate Costly Work-Related Injuries That are Draining the Profitability out of Your Business
Friday, February 19, 2010
Real Health Care Reform
Our health care system is bankrupt and being drained not due to lack of access, but due to the fact that 95% of all care in our country is to diagnose, treat and manage disease. 70% of the spending or $1.75 trillion dollars each year is spent on chronic, degenerative diseases that are preventable through lifestyle modification. Want to reform health care in this country? Your personal wellness is the only solution.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Wellness Care vs. Health Care
Is there really a difference between wellness care and health care? As currently practiced, you bet there is. The original definition of health more closely resembles a wellness type of approach to treating the human body. Unfortunately, the way health care is practiced now, it really has degraded into a disease management and treatment approach and not intended to improve health at all. Health is defined as the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Simply not suffering from a disease does not mean you are healthy. However, our current society approaches health in just this manner. If they are not suffering from a symptom, they think they are healthy. Just take a drug for your symptom and when it goes away, you must be fine. NOT TRUE.
Wellness is defined as the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal. While you may feel good, you aren't truly well unless you are practicing sound nutrition, getting plenty of exercise, not smoking, taking nutritional supplements, having a positive mental attitude, etc. I would propose that we combine a new definition of wellness care to be, the active process of improving the quality and state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. Notice that it is not a passive process, but an active process. You must take an active role in improving your well-being.
Wellness is defined as the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal. While you may feel good, you aren't truly well unless you are practicing sound nutrition, getting plenty of exercise, not smoking, taking nutritional supplements, having a positive mental attitude, etc. I would propose that we combine a new definition of wellness care to be, the active process of improving the quality and state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. Notice that it is not a passive process, but an active process. You must take an active role in improving your well-being.
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