The Vail Valley Partnership- the Chamber & Tourism Bureau (VVP) today announced that it has initiated a health and wellness challenge program partnership with Eagle County Public Health (ECPH). The program will be 12 weeks in length and fully designed and administered by ECPH. The challenge will run from September 17 through December 7, 2012 and is open to businesses at no cost.
Participating businesses will first learn from their employees what health-related items they need or want to implement through an administered survey. Second, employers will then receive support and evidence-based suggestions on how to improve employee wellness programs and ultimately, reduce health care costs. From the ECPH, it is estimated that companies with wellness programs have an average return on investment of $3.50-5.81 per dollar spent on wellness. In addition, it is estimated that there is an average 27% reduction in sick leave absenteeism and a 26% reduction in health costs.
Involvement in the wellness challenge could be as simple as hosting a lunch and learn seminar or a walking meeting with colleagues. Participating businesses will be asked to summarize items implemented at the end of 12 weeks and ECPH will use a rubric to score each group. Points from the rubric system will award a certain number of total points, which will equal the number of tickets entered into a prize drawing.
Jamie Pfahl, public health associate at Eagle County Public Health explains, “The goal of the program is that we’re hoping that the challenge will get the conversation started. We want people to ask, ‘How can I as an employer show my employees that care about their health and wellness? How can I improve the employer-employee relationship? And how I can build a workplace culture that places health and well-being as a core value that’s critical to the mission of the business or critical to the success of the business?”
Vail Valley Partnership is proud to partner with ECPH in a greater effort to help improve locals’ quality of life and contribute the overall brand awareness of the Vail Valley as a health and wellness destination. The challenge also fits the mission of the VVP’s Health & Wellness Initiative to provide local educational services and programming for the business community, as well as establish regional cooperation amongst all stakeholder groups in the valley.
“The Partnership is happy to support Eagle County’s wellness challenge as it provides a local connection to our communities (and Colorado’s) increased efforts to grow health & wellness as a pillar of our economy,” said Chris Romer, executive director of Vail Valley Partnership.
Businesses that partake in the challenge will gain additional exposure and recognition for their participation through local media outlets, as well as entry into a drawing for a chance to win a prize at the end of the 12 weeks.
All businesses interested in joining the challenge should register by September 17. Contact Jamie Pfahl with Eagle County Public Health or call 970-328-8808 for more information and to sign up for the 12-week health & wellness challenge.