Wellness

NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard led a Roundtable at the Work, Stress and Health 2013 Conference in LA focused on Total Worker Health (TWH) that discussed the issue that wellness programs can place a significant requirement on employees to achieve wellness goals.  Wellness programs need to be designed to support employee success and avoid using them to penalize employees who are in poor health or who have predispositions toward unhealthy lifestyles.  Two pictures from the … Read More

Thursday evening New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Moss spoke to a near-capacity OHSU auditorium audience about the obesity epidemic in the US and the role of food in the development of that dangerous and costly trend. His new book on the subject (Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us) is the headline to this blog.  Among many topics, Mr. Moss described the way in which new processed foods are created through … Read More

We always seek feedback from our stakeholders while exhibiting at events. Last week’s Northwest Agriculture Show was no exception. One of the more emotional requests to us as a way to make a difference in safety was a plea to encourage pedestrians and cyclists to become more visible to motorists in the dark. Here in Portland and in many of our neighboring cities, we pride ourselves on how many of us get exercise during our … Read More

The planning committee to Oregon’s Wellness@Work program, now located in the Oregon Public Health Institute (OPHI), met Monday (January 14) to confirm and extend its mission, objectives, and organization. Pictured is the group meeting at Kaiser Permanente in Portland; others are on the phone.  Dawn Robbins, program manager, lead the meeting. Wellness@ Work provides tools to: Assess your company’s wellness culture and environment Tailor model policies to meet your organization’s needs (in wellness) Inspire other … Read More

Critical to workforce health is the safe and healthy work and home practices of the nation’s youth.  An innovative program developed by the Oregon Healthy WorkForce Center, a NIOSH Center of Excellence, offers both safety and health training as well as healthful lifestyle information to summer workers in Portland (Oregon) Parks and Recreation pools that is subsequently reinforced by messaging on social media sites such as Facebook and Pintrest.  Depicted are focus group and study … Read More

The Total Worker Health conference in Iowa began this morning with a presentation by Dr. John Howard, the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH),  on the critical importance of prevention in the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). The role of workforce health in the nation’s health, where prevention is the primary method for reducing health care costs, was the theme of Dr. Howard’s presentation. Shown in the picture is a … Read More

The Oregon Healthy WorkForce Center held it’s first annual Partner’s Luncheon in Portland on Friday. Over 125 people attended to hear keynote speaker Larry Chapman of the Chapman Institute in Seattle present “An authoritative look at the ROI of worksite wellness.” He described the evidence basis for the high return on investment (ROI) of workplace wellness programs measured in dollar savings to the organizations. In a conservative meta-analytic review of 22 published, scientifically rigorous studies: … Read More

Are you seeking to improve safety, health, and personal wellness in your workplace? Are you a member or employee of a company, union, or government organization in Oregon or a neighboring area? If you answered “yes,” to these questions, we would like to meet you. Please join us at the Oregon Healthy WorkForce Center’s 1st Annual Partners Luncheon on September 14, 2012 to be held in Portland at the Red Lion – Jantzen Beach Hotel … Read More

We are eager to follow the work of CROET’s Dr. Ryan Olson and the staff of the Safety and Health Involvement for Truckers (SHIFT) project. Last week we enjoyed reading the blog at Trucking Injury Reduction Emphasis (TIRES), a health and safety blog for the trucking industry. If you missed it, read SHIFT into Health Gear now. SHIFT is currently conducting a research study of driver health and safety with funding from the National Heart, … Read More

In partnership with the International Association of Fire Chiefs, investigators in the Division of Health Promotion & Sports Medicine at OHSU were awarded an almost $300,000 Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) grant to create and distribute two 20-minute safety videotapes. One video will be for owners and workers in Adult Foster Homes (AFHs). AFHs are a rapidly expanding living situation for vulnerable adults. Training resources for AFH employees are limited, and collaborators at the Office … Read More