From healthy selfies to wellness bingo, the Wellness 365 Challenge, offered by the University of Idaho”s Benefit Services, encourages employees to engage in healthy activities.
The challenge is a yearlong calendar of wellness activities for university employees to participate in with other faculty and staff.
Mandy Brocke, a Benefit Services Technician, said the Wellness 365 program is a way to engage employees in all of the services that are available to them.
Brocke said the program was launched early last month and has already attracted quite a bit of participant interest.
“Its main goal is to highlight awareness of certain health and wellness issues,” Brocke said. “We want employees to get involved with the activities and challenges that are in place.”
According to the Benefit Services department the yearlong challenge is split into four quarters. The main activity for each quarter is based on a certain type of health. Challenges over the year will focus on mental, physical and emotional health.
Brocke said the program was split into four quarters to make it easier for employees to track their wellness while engaging in the challenge.
The program also connects with certain months of awareness. In February, during American Heart Health month, the program brought attention to heart health with the use of selfies.
“In February we asked employees to send in a “healthy selfie” of them doing something that helps their heart health,” Brocke said. “Whether it was cooking healthy foods or going for a walk, anything helps.”
Those who sent in a photo were entered to win a prize.
The main challenge of the program”s first quarter is the Wellness Bingo Challenge, which is split into four weeks. Each week focuses on a different theme of wellness, such as nutrition, relaxation, refreshment and movement.
Brocke said the themes are spread out so that they vary and differ to help give a balanced month of wellness.
“The goal is to complete as many bingo activities as possible for the week and once you turn in the card you are entered to win a goodie bag,” Brocke said.
Online bingo cards can be found on the UI Benefits website.
Along with weekly and quarterly challenges, Benefits Services has also found that bringing the university health coach to campus has helped a great deal in promoting wellness.
Brocke said UI”s employee health coach, Chelsea Stone from Blue Cross of Idaho, aids in helping with wellness programs and encouraging health amongst university employees.
Stone said she met with employees face to face to talk about wellness in January and often speaks with them on the phone or by email to continue communication about health and wellness.
“We talk about certain goals they want to achieve and how to achieve them,” Stone said. “Whether it regards stress, sleep, nutrition or physicality, we create a personal plan that will best benefit them.”
Stone said the Wellness Bingo Challenge is a great way to engage employees because of the incentive involved along with the involvement of co-workers.
“When fellow employees are in the mix it makes achieving certain goals and sticking to plans a lot more attainable,” Stone said.
Stone said the Wellness 365 program was created with the idea that it is difficult in the workplace to keep a healthy lifestyle. But, through encouragement, the program hopes to provide beneficial information to better the health of university employees.
Brocke said people often choose healthy options without even realizing it, but the incentive is what keeps the healthy lifestyle going.
“These challenges are an extra little thing that you can get out of your workday,” Brocke said. “The small things take minimal effort, but in the long run, they make such an impact on your wellness when they all add up.”
Hailey Stewart can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @hailey_ann97