Gold Well Workplace Award December 27, 2005 Catawba Valley Medical Center Receives Gold Well Workplace Award

Catawba Valley Medical Center's employee wellness program was recently awarded the Gold Well Workplace Award by the Wellness Councils of America (WELCOA). "Catawba Valley Medical Center has a special responsibility in the effort to improve the overall health status of the people we serve as well as our family of employees," said J. Anthony Rose, CVMC President & CEO. CVMC created their employee wellness program to help staff members lead healthier, more productive lives while lowering the facility's costs for healthcare coverage. The medical center's employee wellness program features the "Day Off / Pay Off" program which allows employees the opportunity of acquiring paid time off when successfully completing a sixteen-week wellness challenge. The challenge is comprised of nine categories including cholesterol, blood pressure, height/weight, exercise program, tobacco free, work-related injury or illness, unscheduled absences, wellness activities and seat belt use. To successfully complete the challenge, the employee must score 80% or higher. WELCOA's Gold Award recognizes those companies that have successfully built comprehensive worksite wellness initiatives and are demonstrating and capturing concrete outcomes related to behavior change, cost effectiveness and return on investment. CVMC becomes one of only four 2005 Gold Award winners in the state and one of only 39 nationally to achieve the Gold level or better. To find out more about CVMC's wellness program or steps to creating a program, contact Linda Swift, CVMC Director of Community Health Services, at 828-326-3125. Based in Omaha, NE, WELCOA was founded in 1987 as a national non-profit membership organization dedicated to promoting healthier life styles for all Americans, especially through health promotion initiatives at the worksite. Organizationally, WELCOA serves as an umbrella, linking communities and coalitions together into a supportive network that includes locally affiliated Wellness Councils, Well City initiatives, Well Workplaces, and individual and corporate members throughout the United States. Catawba Valley Medical Center is a not-for-profit, public healthcare system providing and promoting the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of the public in addition to serving as a center for health education, wellness services, preventative medicine and acute care. CVMC, recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Magnet facility, was recently named a Hospital of Choice by the American Alliance of Healthcare Providers.