Community takes wellness message to community
When Pelco, a Clovis-based video security equipment manufacturer, decided to revamp its employee wellness program last June it turned to Community Medical Centers for help.
“Community made it so easy for us to start a wellness program from scratch,” said Jennifer McClure, program and event coordinator for Pelco’s employee relations. Community provided health and wellness screenings to assess employees and then Lana Jones, a Community employee relations specialist, helped match education resources to the needs and concerns identified in those screenings, McClure said.
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| Dr. Michael Gen, an interventional cardiologist who practices at Fresno Heart & Surgical, outlined the connection between diabetes and heart disease for Pelco employees. |
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“We have had some dynamic presentations at employer sites from RNs speaking on metabolic syndrome, to skin cancer, stress management, yoga, and nutrition, sports injuries and benefits of workplace stretching,” Jones said. “This is a free service in conjunction with employee screenings that we offer on site at a discounted rate.”
McClure said Pelco has been mixing in fun classes of Jazzercise and Tai Chi with serious messages about health for its 2,500 Clovis employees. “The first round of screening results we got back was kind of shocking,” she said. “They helped us focus our efforts. We’re bringing in a lot on diabetes and heart disease because of it.”
On a recent Thursday, Dr. Michael Gen, an interventional cardiologist who practices at Fresno Heat & Surgical Hospital, outlined the connection between diabetes and heart disease at Pelco. As soon as Dr. Gen finished his rapid-fire lecture, hands shot in the air. His audience – more than 50 Pelco workers who had come off the assembly line for the lunch-time wellness class – wanted him to sort out myth from fact about wine and heart disease, no-carb diets and the best way to deal with cholesterol.
Dr. Gen said he’d much rather help people avoid blocked arteries than see them in a surgery suite getting a bypass or stent put in. Heart disease is the number one cause of death worldwide, and diabetes is one of the top risk factors for heart disease, Dr. Gen told the Pelco employees, urging them to lose weight, exercise and watch their sugar intake.
With diabetes, he explained, the excess sugar in the system damages the artery walls and stresses the heart. People most at risk of diabetes and attendant heart problems are those carrying their extra weight around their belly, Dr. Gen. said.
His advice was simple:
- “Get rid of this belly fat. Fastest way to do it is cut out alcohol.”
- “Drop sodas and drop bread. I guarantee your weight will go down. Drink water instead.”
- “Eat vegetables ad nauseum if you’re trying to lose weight. It takes more energy to digest and it has lots of things in it that’s good for a body.”
- “Exercise. This is what’s going to make you live long and when you retire be able to enjoy it. Thirty minutes of walking a day is the prescription.”
- “Get a (cardiac) stress test. Get tested regularly.”
Pelco employees are getting help from their employer in taking that advice, said McClure. Pelco has put healthier food in its vending machines and cafeteria, offers incentives to walk during breaks, has organized competitive sports teams, provides after-work exercise classes and an exercise room on its campus. Although the surveillance camera manufacturing company hasn’t seen a change yet in health care costs, McClure said, employee participation has tripled since the program began in June.
This story was reported by Erin Kennedy. She can be reached at ekennedy@communitymedical.org.