LEWISTON — The City of Lewiston was recently notified by the American Heart Association that it is being celebrated as a “Start! Fit Friendly Company.” As a result, Lewiston has made Fortune Magazine’s 2009 Honor Roll along with other progressive entities that are at the forefront of work site wellness.

Bernard P. Dennis, chairman of the American Heart Association, said, “Studies show that companies that institute work site wellness programs like yours increase productivity, reduce absenteeism, lower turnover and reduce hard costs.”

Lewiston’s Health Care Management System by Prevention was developed in 2005, as the city recognized it had virtually no control or influence over the skyrocketing costs of health care management for its then 532 municipal employees and spouses. Development of chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease continued to impact those costs, and staff and officials realized that something needed to be done to be more preventative towards curbing the development of serious diseases and conditions.

Lewiston became proactive about the need to be preventative. The initiative has proven that initiating preventative health care is much more effective than disease management.

Lewiston developed and implemented a program that assesses the health risk behaviors of employees and spouses, educates them as to the risks of such behaviors, provides guidance towards motivating them to address at-risk behaviors and assists them in setting reasonable, sustainable goals towards enhanced health.

Denis Jean, Lewiston’s human resources director, said, “We have learned that employers can significantly influence and positively impact health behavior change. In addition, by stressing prevention, chronic disease can, in some instances, indeed be prevented.”