Schuylkill County employees take steps toward healthful living

April 18--Schuylkill County employees have taken another step in promoting wellness at the workplace.

The county was one of seven that received funding from Capital Blue Cross to develop wellness programs for its employees. The health insurance provider agreed as part of its 2014-16 contract with the Pennsylvania Counties Health Insurance Purchasing Cooperative to provide $250,000 in wellness credits to the seven counties using them as their claims administrator. That includes Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry, Schuylkill, Snyder and Union counties.

Schuylkill County received $66,914 for the two-year period. Last year, the county formed a wellness committee consisting of more than 20 employees from different departments. They used the credits for various health screenings and a walking program, which will continue this year along with new events each month dealing with a different health topic.

"We had employees come and thank us because those screenings helped discover a health issue," Angel Burnham-Mitchell, a member of the wellness committee, said Thursday.

The 15-week walking program had more than 260 employees participate. Each one received a pedometer to track the steps they take and prizes were awarded every few weeks. Burnham-Mitchell said a few county employees lost as much as 20 pounds over the course of the program.

"Some people want to be healthy and didn't know where to start," she said. "If we can point them in the right direction, maybe that will help them want to be healthier."

The wellness committee recently submitted its plan on how it was going to spend the remaining $44,000. The walking program will return from June 5 through Aug. 27. Credits will once again be used to provide employees with pedometers, T-shirts and prizes. Some of the credits were also set aside to offer biometric screenings and flu shots.

"More people are getting involved in the activities, but they are also bringing new ideas to the table," Jackie Pellish, a member of the Wellness Committee, said Thursday. "We are trying to think of different activities each month to get the employees involved."

The various health topics for each month range from stress awareness in April to cancer awareness in July and mental health awareness in October.

"The feedback has been all positive and the employees are excited," Pellish said.

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