Two years ago, Trampus Hock found himself at the doctor’s office, worried he might have developed heart problems. The battery of tests the doctor ran found nothing concerning. However, rather than simply being thankful for the clean bill of health and getting back to his regular routine, Hock decided to make some lifestyle changes to improve his overall health.
As Business Report details in a feature from the current issue, Hock found these changes easier to make with the support of his employer, Baton Rouge General Medical Center.
“It was kind of a scare,” says Hock, manager of desktop services at Baton Rouge General. “I started looking around at local gyms, but then I heard about the fitness classes here. I talked to some co-workers about it and decided to give it a try.”
The fitness classes are just one aspect of Baton Rouge General’s innovative employee wellness program, Baton Rouge General Fit!, which the hospital introduced in 2011.
“At that time, like all industries, we were facing increasing health care costs,” says Paul Douglas, the hospital’s vice president of human resources and development. “There was an alarming increase in chronic diseases within our community and our own population.”
With chronic disease being the No. 1 cause of death in the U.S. and accounting for 75 cents of every health care dollar, the hospital’s leadership team decided to address the underlying causes in an effort to improve the health of its employees. Using data mining and analytics, and networking with specialists, they redefined their approach to wellness.
“We look at health as a spectrum,” Douglas says. “On one end is a healthy population, people with low risk. On the other end are people who already have an illness or are at increased risk. It’s better to keep people from moving to unhealthy in the first place.”
Read the full feature. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
