MEXICO – The River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition hosted a roundtable discussion on work site wellness Thursday afternoon at Oxford Federal Credit Union. It allowed local businesses to share their successes in making their workplace healthier.

RVHCC member Carol Emery said the purpose of the discussion was for local businesses to share updates on healthy work site initiatives they have been involved with over the past year. Several organizations, including the Maine Department of Transportation, Hope Association and Oxford Federal Credit Union, sent employees to the discussion.

Phil DiRusso, a work site health specialist with the Cardiovascular Health Program at the Maine Center for Disease Control in Augusta, was the featured speaker. He explained the importance of employers promoting work site wellness.

“Wellness gets weird sort of connotations,” DiRusso said, adding that he gets resistance from employers who don’t find work site wellness to be as much of a priority.

“When we start thinking of work site wellness as a business strategy, and what that does for the health of employees, it will be great,” DiRusso said, “because let’s be honest – what’s our greatest priority? Our people.”

DiRusso provided the audience with information on how to make their workplace healthier, including a  glimpse into Healthy Maine Works, a CDC project that helps Maine employers develop work site wellness programs that support the health of employees.

“Healthy Maine Works started off as an assessment and planning tool,” DiRusso said, “but now, we’re trying to take all of our resources and combine them together to create some sort of one-stop shop.”

DiRusso led the audience through the Healthy Maine Works website and explained how the program allows employers access to employee health need surveys, a customizable wellness work plan and a wide variety of resources to help make the workplace healthier.

“We all have a full-time job, and let’s face it, wellness is sometimes tacked on as an added piece to what you do,” DiRusso said.

After his presentation, the audience shared their work site wellness successes with one another.

Carl Costanzi, the program coordinator for the 5210 Let’s Go! Program, said he was able to eliminate the vending machines with soda and junk food at Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway and replace them with a single vending machine filled with healthier foods.

“I said, ‘Listen, you hired somebody to promote this 5210 program, yet you have soda machines and junk food vending. You’ve got to walk the walk,’” Costanzi said.

“A lot of people over there don’t like me,” he added, drawing laughter from the audience.

Angela Rich, human resource manager of Hope Association, said the organization has added a hiking club to the activities available to clients.

“They just love it,” Rich said. “It gives them a chance to get out and about. We’re also trying to find new community stuff for them to get involved with, because they live off that.”

Rich also said the association is looking into building a second greenhouse to grow vegetables instead of flowers.

Employees from the Maine Department of Transportation said they have participated in a Bike to Work day, and have created a seasonal readiness program that helps workers get fit before they go back outside to work in the spring.

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