Working on Wellness

Working on Wellness

Cohort Status

BUY IN

ASSESSMENT PLANNING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

IMPLEMENTATION EVALUATION

C2 C1

• Application deadline

was 9/16

• Organizations are participating in a Needs and Interests Survey to determine their employees’ health risks and interests.

• Organizations submitted their intervention plans and will soon receive their

2nd seed funding payment

• Participants will begin implementing their proposed interventions with the guidance of their wellness advisors.

• Organizations are evaluating their initiatives and are about to launch their Time 2 Needs and Interests Survey.

• Organizations will be informed on 9/23 of their acceptance

• 208 organizations applied

Ø 145 from Cohorts 1-3

Ø 63 in Cohort 4

Partnering for a Healthy Workforce

• 106 organizations currently

participating

Ø 36 withdrew

Ø 3 denied

EMPLOYEES

BUSINESS

COMMUNITY

Cohorts 1-3 include 106 participating organizations representing nearly 45,000 employees 4

by Organization Size, 2015-2016

Legend

o Less than 100 employee s

() 100 - 499 employees

o 500+ employees

_ Region 1 - Western

RegionS

_ Region 2 - Central D Region 3 - NorthEast D Region 4 - Metro Boston D Region 5 - South Eastern

'Program participants on this map represent sites that are active as of June 10,2016. "Regions are based on Emergency Medical Services regions.

o 15

30 60 Miles

• 2,200 respondents

Ø 55.4% women

Ø Average age: 43.7 yrs.

Ø 57.3% White, non- Hispanic

• 91% reported to be in excellent, very good, or good health

• 91% visited a PCP in the past year

• 5,402 respondents

Ø 61.3% women

Ø Average age: 44.5 yrs.

Ø 58.6% White, non- Hispanic

• 88% reported to be in excellent, very good, or good health

• 90% visited a PCP in the past year

• The majority of participating employers are highly engaged and are progressing on target through the program curriculum.

• More people are attending webinars and hearing about MAWOW from a wider array of sources.

• The project team has built a brand identity and a strong program infrastructure.

• Examples of Cohort 1 interventions

“We are off to a really good start. Even though our program is new to employees, they are already thinking of ways to incorporate other activities and programs they enjoy.”- Cohort 1

organization

•“Love, love, love the program. Learned a great deal about how to put together a program, get buy- in, planning, assessment, budgets, etc. Very success[ful] at our company.” -Cohort 1

Organization

Harbor Health Services (HHS), Inc.

Dorchester and Mattapan

Cohort 1

• HHS participated in Needs and Interest

Survey and learned:

Ø 1 out of 5 employees are obese

Ø 4 out of 5 employees don’t eat the rec’d

amount of fruits and vegetables

Ø Almost half of employees want a

farmer’s market at their worksite

• HHS prioritized healthy eating and

partnered with The Fresh Truck

• Employees have access to and receive subsidies for fresh produce

• 390 visits by HHS employees in the first month

• The Fresh Truck is now open to the surrounding community

• Recruitment and retention

• Program is reaching the healthy but not at-risk workers

• Concerns that the program is too time intensive

• Concerns about businesses matching the seed funding

• Sharing data from Needs Interests survey of small employers is challenging due to privacy concerns

• Added 4th Cohort

• Hired external communications consultant to help with messaging to businesses

• Reduced the amount of information delivered in the curriculum and the number of required of activities/exercises

• Adjusted seed funding match requirements

Ø Up to 100% of match funding can be in-kind

Ø More assistance in defining “in kind”

Sustainability

• Work is an important social determinant of health

• Working conditions can strongly impact worker health

• Unhealthy work environments are more common among

certain population groups

• The workplace offers opportunities to improve the health

and safety of workers.

Strategies for Future Worksite Wellness Program:

• Incorporate worksite wellness into PWTF grantee work

• Move from individual level workplace interventions to more system/policy level interventions

• Integrate worksite health promotion with health protection –

Total Worker Health model

• Focus efforts on low-wage workers as they are more vulnerable to workplace injuries and illnesses and have less access to WHP programs

Recommendations

Surveillance Identify which industries employ the largest percentage of low-wage workers in MA

communities using data from the QCEW and LWD*.

o Use data to inform development of industry- or condition-specific interventions

o Use data to inform development of toolkit/materials to help employers tailor programs to address health disparities faced by employees, especially low-wage workers

o Take capacity building time to develop guidelines for an “Employment Profile” that would address how to include work/occupation/industry in a local needs assessment so that the agencies are looking at work as part of the health of the community.

* QCEW: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages

LWD: Department of Labor and Workforce Development

Local Employer Organizations/Agencies

Recommendation(s)
Surveillance / Include work/employment in local needs assessment
o Using guidance developed by DPH in previous slide, incorporate work into assessment of local health/needs
o Assess available community-level data (employment data, not occupational health data) so that they are better able to make statements about work integrated within community
health
Worksite
Wellness Program Models / Move toward a “Total Worker Health” model that is condition specific and/or aligns with
PWTF priority conditions.
o Promote business-community partnerships to address these health issues
Employer organizations in future partnerships participate in current WoW program
CHW training for Occupational Health and Safety
o NY has a model curriculum to equip the CHWs with a basic sense of available resources to address occupational health and safety concerns as they come up with clients, but also to assess/protect CHWs from hazards in the workplace.

Recommendation(s)
Healthcare Providers and Payers / Surveillance / Include occupation/industry information in EMR
o Provides opportunity to enhance surveillance and our understanding of how work impacts overall health.
o Could allow for better informed healthcare providers and patients (e.g., facilitate link to educational materials or development of clinical decision support tools)
o Helps inform future interventions, policies and strategies for worksite wellness and occupational safety and health.
Employees / What is the role of the workforce itself? Worker centers, unions, etc.?

Discussion Questions

1. What are your overall thoughts on the

sustainability plan?

2. What are some recommendations for the role of employees?

3. Other thoughts/comments?