By Sadie Hunter
The American Heart Association has named Riverview Health as a Fit-Friendly worksite for 2016.
The distinction comes after the AHA’s June 15 release of a list of 48 companies across the state to receive the honor from its spring 2016 application cycle.
“We’re honored to be recognized by the American Heart Association as a Platinum Level Fit-Friendly Worksite as it reflects our dedication to creating healthy workplaces,” Mary Valdez, vice president of operations at Riverview Health Physicians, said. “As we continue to improve the health and well-being of our community, it’s important that we lead by example and make the health of our employees a priority as well.”
“The Fit-Friendly Companies Program is a catalyst for positive change in the American workforce by helping companies make their employees’ health and wellness a priority,” a press release from the AHA stated. “The Fit-Friendly Companies Program offers a unique, easy-to-implement opportunity for corporations to increase employees’ physical activity, which will help improve their health – and their employers’ bottom line.”
The AHA said companies are chosen based off implementation of programs and activities that encourage physical activity, nutrition and culture enhancements, such as on-site walking routes, healthy food choices in cafeterias and vending machines, annual employee health risk assessments and online tracking tools. From there, companies are designated as gold or platinum – the highest tier – meaning the company took the program one step further by measuring outcomes of its wellness efforts. Riverview Health received platinum status.
This is Riverview Health’s second time to be named after receiving gold recognition in 2015, and the organization began offering free, on-site biometric screenings and health risk assessments to employees in 2009 and began including spouses in 2011. In addition, wellness coaching and nutritional counseling are available to all employees, as well as year-round tobacco cessation offerings.
Riverview Health then uses aggregate data each year to adjust health and benefit plans accordingly, and the same data is then used to develop strategic wellness initiatives that target the health and wellness needs of employees, which include more than 10 programs like Waist Reduction, Break Room Fitness Station, Spring Into Motion and Reduce Your BMI.
Other Hamilton County companies who made the list include CNO Financial Group (platinum) and RCI (gold), both in Carmel.
For more, visit startwalkingnow.org.
