A selection of healthful foods are made available to associates in the Humana cafeterias.

Two national organizations have given Humana top honors for the company’s work to promote and advance the well-being of its associates.

Humana recently received the American Heart Association’s Fit Friendly Worksite Platinum award for the second year in a row. The award is given to employers that, according to the AHA, “go above and beyond when it comes to their employees’ health” by providing walking and other fitness opportunities as well as healthy-eating options and creating a “culture of wellness.” The platinum distinction is the highest–level award of this type given by the AHA.

“It’s critical for companies to offer employees a wide variety of healthy lifestyle options,” said Ashley Mason, Heart Walk Director for the American Heart Association. “We are pleased to recognize Humana for its dedication to helping employees lead healthy and active lives.”

Humana also recently won the prestigious Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles (BEHL) – Platinum award from the National Business Group on Health. Winning the BEHL’s top prize means that Humana’s associate well-being initiatives are considered examples of best practices and worthy of emulation by other top employers. The National Business Group on Health works to promote workplace wellness as a way to fight rising health care costs and improve economic productivity.

“At Humana, our pursuit of well-being is much more than an initiative; it is our dream for the customers we serve, as well as for ourselves,” said Human Resources Vice President Tim State. “Every day, teammates across our company are working toward their personal health and well-being goals, and inspiring each other throughout the journey. Our energy and momentum are becoming increasingly visible to the outside world, as shown by this recognition. We can all take pride in these signs that we’re on the right path to bringing our dream to life.”

LifeSynch, a Humana subsidiary, offers extensive health behavior resources, including behavioral healthcare, employee assistance program (EAP)/work-life services, behavioral pharmacy services, health coaches and Web-based wellness tools. As part of their commitment to change health behaviors and improve lives, LifeSynch’s health coaches will be contributing a series of articles that demonstrate how easy it can be to make a healthy change.

Earth Day is Monday, April 22, and is the perfect time to look at your surroundings and find ways to make small changes that can result in a positive difference to the environment. A healthier environment will make it easier for all of us to live longer, healthier lives. Here are just a few suggestions to get you started:

• Turn down heat and air conditioner by 2 degrees
• Reuse plastic grocery bags or buy clothe bags to take to the store with you
•  Drink your beverages from a reusable mug or cup
•  Reuse plastic baggies
• Use baking soda and vinegar to clean when you can
• Shorten your shower by three minutes
•  Only run the dishwasher and washing machine when full
•  Air-dry your clothing when possible
• Turn down the water heater a few degrees
• Learn how to make a compost pile
• Go paperless when paying bills
• Use natural light whenever possible
• Shop at a farmer’s market
• Make sure your car tires are inflated correctly to save on gas
• Cut up old T-shirts to use for cleaning instead of paper towels

Earth Day is also about starting new life. Planting trees can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce air pollution, prevent soil erosion, and keep our ecosystem going. Trees create shade which helps with cooling costs in the summer. In the winter, trees help protect your house from cold winds – and reduce heating bills. If you don’t have a place to plant anything outside, put some flowers in a window sill or purchase some indoor plants, which can help clean the air of toxins like formaldehyde, carbon dioxide and benzene.

Before you simply toss out the things you no longer need or use, try to think of alternatives to simply transferring your “trash” into another pile. Can these items be used by someone else? Can it be composted? And to reduce the amount of stuff in the first place, ask yourself whether you can you buy and use less? The following is a list of items and estimated decomposition time (U.S. National Park Service website):

• Orange/banana peels: Up to 2 years
• Cigarette butts: 1 to 5 years
• Plastic bags: 10-20 year
•  Leather: Up to 50 years
• Tin cans: 50 years
• Aluminum cans: 80 to 200 years
•  Plastic six-pack holders: 100 years
• Disposable diapers: 450 years
• Glass bottles: 1 million years
• Plastic bottles: Indefinitely
• Styrofoam: Indefinitely

On April 22, Earth Day, join me in asking: What can I do to be less wasteful? It may be easier than you think.
Lacey Starkey, a learning facilitator and personal health coach/mentor at LifeSynch, a subsidiary of Humana, has a bachelor’s degree in wellness science and a master’s degree in health education. She is also a certified personal trainer and group exercise instructor. In her spare time, she enjoys being outdoors, exercising and staying active in her local community garden.

LifeSynch, a Humana subsidiary, offers extensive health behavior resources, including behavioral healthcare, employee assistance program (EAP)/work-life services, behavioral pharmacy services, health coaches and Web-based wellness tools. As part of their commitment to change health behaviors and improve lives, LifeSynch’s health coaches will be contributing a series of articles that demonstrate how easy it can be to make a healthy change.

There are thousands of health and fitness apps that do anything from record mileage on your runs, to provide reminders to take your medication, to calculate the amount of fat you consume in a day. The options are endless and more come out every day.

How effective are these fitness apps in helping you reach your health goals? Behavior-change studies take time, and there are no statistics to share just yet, but if you find an app that can motivate you to make positive change, it is certainly worth a try. (However, you should always check with your physician with any concerns about dietary changes or fitness regimens.)

Whether you need motivation, information or are simply looking to join a like-minded group of people who will provide encouragement, competition and a social outlet, there is an app for you. Here are some of the most popular apps to get you started:

• Map My Run/Map My Ride – Calculates mileage, pace and calories burned during your work-out.
• Coach to 5K (C25K) – This app will help take you from no activity to running a 5K (3.2 miles) in nine weeks.
• 101 Revolutionary Ways to Be Healthy – A great tool when you just need a little push.
• PocketYoga  - A customizable app offering a range of yoga poses. You choose the difficulty and duration.
• GymPact – An app that provides incentive by asking you to commit to going to the gym a specific number of times a week and holds you accountable by docking your credit card (you determine the amount) if you miss a workout. At the end of the week, GymPact divides the money collected from the slackers among the people who kept their commitment to exercise. This is a free app – unless you skip workouts!

For more ideas, check this list of fitness and health apps: http://greatist.com/health/best-health-fitness-apps

Fitness apps can help you achieve your goals if you choose the right one for your needs. If you go that route, choose one that keeps you inspired, engaged and on the road to success.

Lacey Starkey, a learning facilitator and personal health coach/mentor at LifeSynch, a subsidiary of Humana, has a bachelor’s degree in wellness science and a master’s degree in health education. She is also a certified personal trainer and group exercise instructor. In her spare time, she enjoys being outdoors, exercising and staying active in her local community garden.

My Well-Being.com won the 2013 IMA Outstanding Achievement Award.

My Well-Being.com has won the 2013 IMA (Interactive Media Awards) Outstanding Achievement Award in the “Lifestyle” category.

The Outstanding Achievement award is the second-highest honor bestowed by IMA, which recognizes the highest standards of excellence in website design and development. In announcing the award, IMA said My Well-Being.com “excelled in all areas of our judging criteria and represents a very high standard of planning, execution and overall professionalism.”

My Well-Being.com, which launched in July 2012, offers tools and expert advice to help people take positive steps toward lifelong well-being.

MyWell-Being.com membership is free and includes:

•  A complimentary 72-page “Well-being for Dummies” book.
• Original and third-party content including expert articles, videos and daily well-being tips. Topics include fitness trends, cooking healthier meals, travel, music, scrapbooking and more.
• The ability to save content and share it easily with others, follow favorite authors and suggest topics for future discussion through new social media pages.
• Interactive online games designed to challenge and increase mental strength.
•  Access to content across devices (computer, tablet and smart phone).

Dr. Thomas Van Gilder uses a “standing desk” (similar to this one) to help reduce the time he sits each day.

Dr. Thomas Van Gilder, Humana’s National Medical Director for Wellness, is passionate about helping people achieve lifelong well-being. As part of his efforts to encourage greater participation in well-being activities, he will contribute regular blog posts on health and wellness issues and share ideas and insights to lead us forward on our journey to better health. This is his second post. If you missed his first blog post, click here.

We’ve all become familiar with a growing list of things that we shouldn’t be doing if we want to live longer, healthier lives: Don’t smoke! Don’t drink and drive! Don’t overeat! And now …. don’t sit? Are our chairs a health hazard, too? What’s up with that?

Research points to far-reaching negative effects on health
A recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine compared the mortality risks among those who sit 11 or more hours a day with those who sit for less than four hours a day. It found that adults who sit 11 or more hours a day have a 40 percent increased risk of dying in the next three years, regardless of physical activity, weight, and health status. Another recent study suggests that people who have the “highest sedentary behavior” (that is, those who sit the most) have significantly increased risks of diabetes, heart disease, and premature death.

It is not entirely clear why sitting appears to increase the risk of disease and death, but the benefits of standing and moving more throughout the day are clear: more calories burned; increased energy, improved muscle health; and enhanced metabolism and lower cholesterol.

Taking action
For most of us, the longest periods of sitting occur at our jobs, making the workplace an area of focus for small changes that may make a big difference in your health – and your life.

• Get a pedometer or an activity tracker (such as a FitBit) and use it to measure and motivate yourself
• Take all phone calls standing up (pacing when possible)
•  Take stretching breaks throughout the day
•  Stop relying solely on technology: Meet face-to-face instead of texting, emailing and calling
• Switch to a standing desk or chair that includes active sitting (such as exercise ball or Swopper)

Now that you know the risks and know how to reduce those risks, don’t just sit there. Stand for something—your health, for example!

Dr. Thomas Van Gilder, MD, JD, MPH, is board-certified in internal medicine and general preventive medicine and public health. He currently serves as Humana’s national medical director for wellness, providing medical direction to HumanaVitality and other Humana wellness initiatives.

He previously served as vice president and medical officer for Humana’s Wisconsin market. He has served in a number of leadership positions with other leading companies, and spent more than nine years in the U.S. Public Health Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Van Gilder obtained a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health and is also an attorney specializing in intellectual property. He has written and spoken nationally and internationally on various public health and law topics, healthcare reform, primary care transformation, prevention and wellness, value-based benefit design and onsite clinics.

Making a list and planning meals ahead of time can make grocery shopping – and eating healthier – less of a chore.

LifeSynch, a Humana subsidiary, offers extensive health behavior resources, including behavioral healthcare, employee assistance program (EAP)/work-life services, behavioral pharmacy services, health coaches and Web-based wellness tools. As part of their commitment to change health behaviors and improve lives, LifeSynch’s health coaches will be contributing a series of articles that demonstrate how easy it can be to make a healthy change.

It’s National Nutrition Month and the perfect time to talk about making the most of your time and money – and about making healthier choices. What better place to start than the source of most of your family’s meals: the grocery.

Grocery shopping and meal planning can be a tedious chore for many, but spending just two hours a week planning, shopping, and prepping will save you time and money in the long run and could have long-term positive effects on your health. Eating out a lot can take a toll on your wallet and your health.

Follow these easy steps, and grocery shopping will not only become easier but will have a positive (healthy) domino effect for the rest of your week.

Planning:
Find recipes that you like and add the ingredients to an ongoing list throughout the week. A simple notepad on the fridge works, but there are many phone apps, such as Shoplistfree, are also available. Check the local grocery ads to see what is on sale before you make a final list.

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Humana’s video about its Team Up 4 Health program has been voted a top 10 finalist in the 2013 Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship Film Festival. Humana also made the top 10 in 2012 and is one of only three companies to repeat from last year’s list.

Seventy-four companies submitted videos in this year’s contest, and more than 90,000 people voted. A panel of judges will choose the winner, which will be announced at the 2013 International Corporate Citizenship Conference, April 21-23, in Boston. All 10 videos will be shown at the conference.

The Team Up 4 Health program helps people facing chronic diseases such as hypertension, obesity, heart disease or diabetes make small behavior changes and see powerful results that lead to better health and lifelong well-being. The mission of Team Up 4 Health is to curb these chronic diseases, which are among the most common, preventable and costly health problems in the United States.

To watch the Team Up 4 Health video, click on the screen above or here. If you want to learn more about Humana’s Corporate Social Responsibility efforts, click here.

Humana’s video about its Team Up 4 Health program is featured in the 2013 Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship Film Festival. The center’s annual Film Festival showcases corporate citizenship videos and asks the public to vote for their favorite.

Voting will take place from February 14 to March 1. Votes are tallied when public voting ends and the top 10 finalists are reviewed by a panel of judges who chose a winner. The Film Festival winner is announced during the 2013 International Corporate Citizenship Conference, which is held April 21-23 in Boston.

To learn more about the Film Festival, view the full list of video entries and vote, click here. To watch the Team Up 4 Health video, click on the screen above or here. If you want to learn more about Humana’s Corporate Social Responsibility efforts, click here.

Concentra’s Well-Being Center’s goal is to build a wellness culture among its employees.

Humana subsidiary Concentra is taking a new approach to health care with two pilot programs that bring simplicity, convenience, cost efficiencies and an element of fun to a system that has become increasingly complex, costly and confusing.

Concentra Well-Being Center
A year ago, Jeffrey Endermann learned from a biometric screening that not only was he overweight, but he had many risk factors for several serious health conditions. Today, the 30-year-old senior financial analyst at Concentra is 60 pounds lighter and his latest screening identified no risk factors.

“Now, I am in perfect health,” he said. “It has been a true life-changing experience.”

Endermann, who works at Concentra’s Dallas headquarters, where the Well-Being Center opened in November 2011, said he was inspired to begin his wellness journey by the eye-opening biometric screening results and the easy-to-access resources at the center. A health coach at the Well-Being Center provided nutrition guidance and developed a fitness plan for Endermann, which he credits for helping him change direction and embark on his new healthy lifestyle.

He has changed his diet, increased his activity away from work, and now visits the center a couple of days during the workweek to use its resources.

“I have more energy and am able to participate in a lot more activities,” Endermann said. “It even helped me become a better golfer. Everything is better: I work better, sleep better … I just feel better all the time.”

In addition to offering state-of-the-art walking stations which can be reserved for an hour at a time, Concentra employees can build fun and healthy activity into their day in other ways. Instead of sitting or eating a snack during a 15-minute break, many regularly visit the center for an interactive video game or attend exercise programs or nutritional counseling sessions. Some employees have even created departmental challenges for activities, such as Wii bowling, and will participate as a team during breaks.

Employee engagement has been strong since Concentra launched its first pilot, WeightRX, an intensive weight-loss coaching program focused on reducing obesity. Participants in the 90-day program lost an average of 21.8 pounds, or 9.7 percent of their total original weight, and most have continued to be active in workout programs sponsored by the Well-being Center.

The goal of Concentra’s Well-Being Center is to help build a wellness culture among employees in all aspects of their lives, including their work lives, and help them move forward on their journey toward lifelong well-being, said Kyle Anderson, Concentra’s Health and Wellness Program Leader. This innovative approach to workplace wellness continues to show positive results. Just ask Jeffrey Endermann.

To learn more about the Concentra Well-Being Center, watch this video.

MyDocDirect

Concentra exam facilitator Monique Dinga, right, and Jeffrey Endermann, a senior financial analyst at Concentra, demonstrate the tools used in the MyDocDirect telemedicine suite.

Concentra’s MyDocDirect creates a worksite clinic with a telemedicine suite that helps drive down costs and create a simpler, more convenient and better health-care experience for everyone.

Since this program launched a few months ago, employees at Concentra’s Dallas headquarters can set up an appointment, see a doctor, get a diagnosis and, if needed, get an e-prescription in less than 35 minutes – without leaving the building.

Here’s how it works:
An employee sets up an appointment for the onsite telemedicine suite from home or while at work. At the time of the appointment, a nurse greets the patient at the clinic and records vitals and other intake information just as experienced during a normal doctor visit. The patient’s medical data is captured in an electronic medical record and sent instantly and securely to a physician at a local Concentra clinic. The physician joins the patient and nurse via video conference using a 27-inch monitor in the telemedicine suite. Using tools that can capture and share images and sounds, the physician and nurse work together to conduct an examination.

In addition to potential savings of time and money, this new approach allows the patient to see what the physician is seeing, opening the door to broader and better communication and improving health literacy. For example, if the physician is looking for a potential problem in a patient’s inner ear, the image he is seeing through the otoscope is projected onto the monitor that the patient is viewing.

This unique process using image-sharing tools has increased the level of engagement for both the patient and the physician, said Keith Borowicz, Concentra Director of Product Development. “People are asking more questions because of what they are seeing.”

While the pilot is still in the early stages, Borowicz is already seeing benefits for everyone involved.

A telemedicine suite can make it possible for the employer to offer a cost-effective health-services option that could increase productivity and reduce absenteeism, according to Borowicz. And the physician gains flexibility and time savings. Borowicz said it could even provide new opportunities for physicians who are nearing retirement and want to work shorter, more flexible hours.

And the potential benefits for the patient? It can save money and a significant amount of time as well as increasing engagement in their health and health care, he said. Some who have used the clinic have also pointed out that the easy access to care led them to seek care more promptly than they normally would have, which has the potential to prevent or minimize serious illness.

Antuan Johnson returned to America SCORES Chicago in 2008 to help coach a new generation of poet-athletes.

An unusual combination forms the core of a youth-development program offered by Humana grant recipient America SCORES Chicago:

Poetry and soccer.

“A lot people might think soccer and creative writing don’t mix,” says Antuan Johnson, 23. “But they really do. I started off as one of their poet-athletes.”

Johnson grew up in North Lawndale, a Chicago neighborhood that averages roughly one homicide every three weeks. Johnson says the schools he attended were frequently under threat of shutdown due to low performance. He started with America SCORES Chicago when he was 10 or 11, and the program changed his life.

Through soccer, Johnson eventually joined teams that traveled to Africa and the Caribbean. He also started performing in poetry slams. “I started writing poetry on my own when I was 7, but through America SCORES, I was able to say, ‘This is what I want to do.’ Without them, I might have drifted for 20 years before I figured out what I wanted to do.”

Johnson graduated from Chicago’s Columbia College with a degree in television writing and producing and now lives in Los Angeles where he’s producing his own record album and working on TV pilot scripts in hopes of breaking into the entertainment industry. “I’m really thankful that an organization like Humana could look at a nonprofit like America SCORES Chicago and recognize what the program is doing to help people become better human beings,” he says.

In 2011, America SCORES Chicago received a $100,000 Humana Communities Benefit grant to develop a new program to increase the number of students the program serves. America SCORES Chicago focuses on K-8 students, primarily through afterschool programs. A change to the school calendar spread students’ vacation weeks throughout the year, creating both a challenge and an opportunity.

“We partner very closely with the Chicago Public Schools,” says America SCORES Chicago executive director Brian Bullington. “We recognized that these intervals were going to potentially leave children with no supervision and nothing to do and the potential for them to either get hurt or get in trouble themselves.”

Humana’s support helped the organization develop a new curriculum called “Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies, Healthy Communities.” America SCORES Chicago develops students’ minds through poetry, their bodies through soccer and their sense of community through service-learning efforts like cleaning up a neighborhood park. “The goal is to help young people to lead healthier lives, develop a love of literacy and help them recognize that they have the power to positively impact their community,” Bullington says.

The “Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies, Healthy Communities” initiative allowed America SCORES Chicago to work with an additional 400 children throughout the school year, roughly doubling the number of students the group serves.
“Humana helped us create a program that turned out to be a wonderful thing, and it continues to this day, serving hundreds of youth across Chicago,” Bullington says.

As America SCORES Chicago has evolved, Antuan Johnson has maintained his ties to the program, returning periodically to give back as a coach.

Johnson recalls the way one kid he worked with described the connection between America SCORES Chicago’s signature activities: “He told me, ‘Soccer – it’s like creative writing with your feet.’ That’s a pretty good description.”

Spoken like a true poet-athlete.

Related links

• For more information, or to make a donation to America Scores Chicago, click here.
• America Scores Chicago is an affiliate of the national nonprofit America Scores.
• The Humana Communities Benefit program has awarded more than $1 million to charitable organizations since its inception in Chicago in 2002. In 2012, the program provided grant assistance in Arizona, Austin, Chicago, Greater Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas City, Nashville and New Orleans.