EMPLOYEES REAP BENEFITS OF UF HEALTH WELLNESS INITIATIVES
Robust offerings provide a variety of options to boost wellness
It’s no secret that sitting at a desk for eight hours straight each day is not healthy — movement is an important component to a well-rounded approach to wellness. Conversely, workers who are on their feet all day may burn plenty of calories, but may not prioritize eating a well-balanced meal during the hustle and bustle of their day-to-day duties.
When it comes to wellness, one thing is clear — there is no one-size-fits-all solution. A diet or exercise regime that works for one person may not be feasible for another.
The UF Health GatorCare Wellness team understands this. That’s why it offers a variety of wellness programming that can meet employees where they are and help them establish achievable goals that can truly make a positive impact on their health.
Dianna Kish has participated in GatorCare Wellness Fresh Start program, among several others.
“My involvement began last year when I was just looking for a way to get moving again because I was sitting at a desk all day long,” said Dianna Kish, senior payroll assistant in UF Health Shands Human Resources.
Kish signed up for the GatorCare Wellness Fresh Start program — known as Shape Up at the time. Fresh Start is one of GatorCare Wellness’ most in-depth initiatives that includes consultations with health coaches and personalized regimens and goals.
“It ended up being a very good experience,” Kish said. “We all kind of pushed each other consistently throughout the program. The accountability and camaraderie were two of the greatest parts of the program. When you know you’re going to have a check-in with a health coach, you’re going to do the challenges. And you know you’re not doing it alone.”
Mallory Rubek, wellness manager for GatorCare at UF Health, said the goal of the Fresh Start program is to provide GatorCare members with practical, healthy lifestyle tips and tools to focus on physical activity and healthy nutrition. Rubek explained that the four-month program has evolved in recent years, with the aim to deliver even greater health benefits to participants.
“We realized that there is so much more to it than just weight management or weight loss, so we’ve made the program more holistic and focused more on behavior changes rather than numbers,” Rubek said.
“Fresh Start is a really cool program because it’s so personalized,” explained Abi Loose, GatorCare Wellness coordinator. “Each participant has a chance to meet up to five times with our health coaches. We do body composition screenings and we talk to them about their individual goals.”
Loose said that in addition to the face-to-face coaching, participants also receive valuable information via email about topics, including how to make healthy choices at the grocery store, how to be more active and how to get better sleep.
“For the first three months, we’re really working closely with the participants, and in the fourth month we’re trying to set them up to continue those healthy lifestyle changes once the program concludes,” Loose said.
Fresh Start takes place during the summer and into the fall. Sign-ups are on a first-come, first-served basis. Rubek said those who are interested can visit the GatorCare Wellness website on the Bridge to learn more.
Jorge Mulet-Perez is the wellness resource partner for his unit.
For Jorge Mulet-Perez, BSN, RN-BC, a registered nurse in the UF Health Shands Admission Discharge Transfer Unit, the bi-annual walking challenges hosted by GatorCare Wellness appealed to him.
Mulet-Perez became his unit’s wellness resource partner when the previous person left the role. He said he was immediately interested and when he learned more about the role of the wellness resource partner, he was in.
“I’m currently in the UF psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner program, so this something I was really interested in,” he said. “So, when the opportunity arose, I said, ‘You know what? I’ll hop on, I’ll take on that role.’”
It wasn’t long before fellow nurses and others on his unit began asking about the next Wellness Walking Challenge. Mulet-Perez admits that he wasn’t familiar with the challenge when he first assumed his wellness resource partner role, but he quickly became acquainted.
“I started signing people up. I learned how the system works and how people can register through the app, and then you get to make a team,” he said. “It was really fun.”
Mulet-Perez said that while people were signing up for the challenge — which he was pleased to see — he wasn’t prepared for the competitive streak it would bring out in his colleagues.
“As the challenge started, people got super competitive,” he said. “People would be checking in to see where we ranked, how we were doing.”
Mulet-Perez and Kenya Reid, patient care assistant, hold a Wellness challenge trophy.
He remembers one of the top managers in his unit checking in nearly every day to see how the team was doing. Mulet-Perez said the Walking Challenge also served as a great team-building tool because people who didn’t necessarily hang out together on the unit were interacting and getting to know each other better.
Rubek said the spring and fall walking challenges are the Wellness events that have the highest number of employees who participate.
“It’s one of the longest-running programs here,” Rubek said. “It started out completely manual — there was no map, no app, no automation. Teams just tracked their progress and submitted averages, and the person running the challenge calculated it all in an Excel file.”
Today, participants can download the Walker Tracker app, which not only tracks activity but provides maps, wellness tips and facilitates easy communication.
Rubek said the current walking challenge runs through Oct. 30 and is themed around the NFL.
“Kick-off football season with our latest NFL Stadium Tour walking challenge!” according to the Wellness website. “As you tackle your way through the map, you’ll learn about the history of each NFL stadium and the teams they host. Unlike the football players you’ll read about it, you won’t need cleats for this challenge. Get drafted today and we’ll see you on the field.”
Kish and Mulet-Perez have also participated in numerous other wellness programs through GatorCare Wellness and they both encourage others to explore the offerings.
“They have all been very, very good,” Kish said. “I hope this inspires others to participate.”
Visit www.gatorcare.org/wellness to learn more about Fresh Start, walking challenges and a variety of other guided and self-paced programs designed to improve employees’ overall health.
