Any workplace wellness program worth its salt encourages employees to see their doctors and get regular health screenings, right?

But as far as ensuring that your employees are actually making those appointments, arranging their busy schedules to accommodate them, and following through, it’s pretty much out of your hands.

That is, unless you bring the doctor’s office to work.

You might decide to arrange a full-scale health fair, or simply to periodically bring in a health-care professional who can provide information and answer questions about a specific medical issue.

Either way, you’re sure to get positive results from employees who might otherwise put off necessary medical appointments indefinitely. (After all, they can’t cancel this one!)

Prevention of disease starts with awareness, and that’s where you can make a difference.

Armed with knowledge and options about how to best handle such problems as high blood pressure, obesity, and high cholesterol, your workers stand a much greater chance of turning things around.

For every health screening that uncovers a potential problem, there is an individual who might be inspired to make a healthy lifestyle change.

A body-fat test for someone who is obese, coupled with in-depth information about the perils of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, might just be the key to getting them to take better care of themselves.

That’s good news for them, their families, and your business.

If you’re new to the health-fair scene, consider starting small to get a feel for the interest level among your staff members. Then determine a few key health concerns that affect your workers, and focus on those.

Consider offering these basic preventive tests, and customize as needed for your unique organization:

• Bone density testing
• Body fat testing
• Glucose screening
• Blood pressure testing
• Cholesterol testing
• Health risk assessment

This article appeared on Corporate Wellness Advisor – visit source

Here comes Spring!

Bulbs, blossoms and blocked sinuses.

“Seasonal allergic rhinitis” – Hayfever.

For most this means itchy, runny noses and eyes and sneezing.

Allergens, such as dust, pollen, mould animal hair and some plant pollens cause our bodies to react and release histamine, the tissues in our nose then swell.

Preventing exposure to allergens is an important part of controlling hayfever, Pollen counts are generally higher between 6.00am and noon so try to avoid being outside for long periods during these times.

As pollen can collect in your home try to vacuum often.  In your own garden try to choose plants that are pollinated by birds or insects rather than plants that release their seeds into the air.

Mould, and dust mites may also trigger hayfever so keep on top on the cleaning before you have a reaction.

Want to find out more?  Our Asthma and Allergies lunch and learn program is outlined below:-

• Asthma & Allergies
• Covers - what is Asthma
• What are the common triggers of asthma and what causes asthma.
• What can we do to help prevent asthma.
• Common allergies and Asthma
• How do you tell if you have asthma and what treatments are available.
• A hand out and guide are given to all participants.  Peak Flow reading can also be incorporated, with additional time allowed.

National Healthy bone week is 1 – 7 August.

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis, or porous bone is a disease in which the amount of calcium present in the bones reduces over time and the bones loses density (causing thinning of the bones).  The bones become so weak that even a slight fall can cause a fracture.  While some bone thinning is normal as we get older, osteoporosis is not inevitable.  A special bone density test can detect osteoporosis.  People should check to see if they are at risk and talk to a doctor.

Bones mostly commonly fractured include the hip, wrist, spine and pelvis.  A fracture maybe the first sign of the disease.

Risk factors

• Genetic – other family members with Osteoporosis.
• A thin or small build as the skeleton is smaller to start with. 
• European or Asian 
• General – Low calcium intake
• Little or no weight bearing exercise such as walking
• Smoking
• Excessive alcohol intake
• Excessive salt intake
• Excessive phosphate intake without calcium - eg. Cola based soft drinks
• Excessive animal protein intake
• Excessive caffeine intake

For Women early menopause, no children or prolonged breast-feeding can add to the risk.

For men low levels of the male hormone – testosterone, adds to the risk.

Preventative factors

• Increase dairy intake as calcium helps slow bone loss. 
• Adequate Vitamin D formed in the skin from exposure to sunlight and present in milk, fish oil, yeast and cereals, can help increase calcium absorption.
• Talk to your doctor about HRT as this may help reduce bone loss.
• Be active at all stages of your life to build strong bones.
• Take measures to prevent falls
• Quit smoking.

QHS is able to offer Bone Density testing in the workplace.

Get ready for BowelScreen Australia

Bowel cancer is the second most common cause of cancer related deaths in Australia (after lung cancer) and kills over 70 Australians each week. While bowel cancer claims more lives each year than breast or prostate cancer, early detection through screening can vastly improve survival rates.

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia and Bowel Cancer Australia have joined forces to develop

BowelScreen AustraliaTM, a pharmacy based bowel cancer awareness, education and screening program for the Australian community. The program uses a clinically proven, sensitive and reliable immunochemical faecal occult blood test produced by Enterix Australia*.

“We are excited to make this important preventative health program available to the Australian public via the most accessible healthcare provider, the local community pharmacist,” Kos Sclavos, National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia said. 

Annual bowel cancer screening is recommended for Average Risk Patients. These include men and women 50 years and over; who have no symptoms; and no personal or family history of bowel cancer or polyps. Patients with symptoms or a personal/family history should be referred to their GP. 

“Early detection of polyps and cancer is key to improvement of survival rates as it is important to find these abnormalities when it is easier to treat and cure,” said Dr Cameron Bell,

Gastroenterologist and Director of Bowel Cancer Australia.

“A positive result from a bowel screening program such as BowelScreen Australia does not confirm the presence of bowel cancer. It indicates the presence of blood that may be invisible to the naked eye. Further investigation, such as a colonoscopy, by a medical specialist is then required,” Dr Bell said.

Patients who have received a screening kit from the Australian Government are encouraged to participate in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program. This only applies to people who turn 50, 55 or 65 before 31 December 2010 and does not include provision for annual rescreening. Patients who are ineligible for the Government program may purchase a BowelScreen Australia test kit for annual screening from their local pharmacy.

BowelScreen Australia will be launched nationally in early June.

Red apple day for Bowel Cancer is 9 June.

QHS Corporate Health is able to offer you Bowel Screening clinics including the Bowel Screening test kit.

Skin Cancer facts and figures.

Do your employees spend time in the sun, are they at risk of developing skin cancer?

Facts and figures from the Cancer Council.

In Australia, every year:

• skin cancers account for 80% of all newly diagnosed cancers.
• two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the time they are 70.
• GPs in Australia have over 1 million patient consultations per year for skin cancer. 
• around 434,000 people are treated for one or more non-melanoma skin cancers, of which about 450 die.
• more than 10,300 people are treated for melanoma, of which around 1250 die.
• melanoma is the most common cancer in people aged 15-44 years.
• melanoma is the third most common cancer in both women and men.
• Australia has one of the highest incidences of skin cancer in the world, at nearly four times the rates in Canada, the US and the UK.
• the rate of melanoma incidence in women has risen by an average of 0.7% a year between 1993 and 2003 – a total increase of 6.8% over this decade. For men, the rate has risen by 1.7% a year, a total of 18.7% over the same period.
• the five-year relative survival rate for melanoma is 90% for Australian men and 95% for Australian women.
• skin cancer is the most expensive cancer. In 2001, it was estimated the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer cost $264 million and melanoma $30 million. 
• GP consultations to treat non-melanoma skin cancer increased by 14% between 1998-2000 and 2005-2007 – from around 836,500 to 950,000 visits each year.

References*

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australasian Association of Cancer Registries, Cancer in Australia, an overview 2008, Canberra, 2008.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Non-melanoma skin cancer: general practice consultations, hospitalisation and mortality. Canberra, 2008.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australasian Association of Cancer Registries, Australian cancer incidence and mortality workbooks. Canberra, 2008.

Staples M, Elwood M, Burton R, Williams J, Marks R, Giles G. Non-melanoma skin cancer in Australia: the 2002 national survey and trends since 1985. Medical Journal of Australia 2006;184 (1): 6-10.

Dobbinson S, Jamsen KM, Francis K, Dunlop S, Wakefield MA. 2006–07 National Sun Protection Survey Report 1. Skin cancer prevention knowledge, attitudes and beliefs among Australians in summer 2006-07 and comparison with 2003–04 in the context of the first national mass media campaign. Melbourne: Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer, The Cancer Council Victoria, December 2007 unpublished.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare & Cancer Australia & Australasian Association of Cancer Registries. Cancer survival and prevalence in Australia: cancers diagnosed from 1982 to 2004. Canberra, 2008.

National Cancer Control Initiative, The 2002 National Non-melanoma Skin Cancer Survey, Melbourne, 2003.

QHS CEO and work health expert Paul Burnett was recently interviewed by HR Daily, discussing how to best invest in health prevention.

Employers should consider the demographic of their workforce and the needs of their workers before running health clinics.

This article appeared in HR Daily on the 4th May 2010. Click here to go to HR Daily's Website.

Employers should consider the demographic of their workforce and the needs of their workers before running health clinics, says work health expert Paul Burnett.

Burnett, the CEO and executive director of Quality Health Screenings, says there is no one-size-fits-all approach to employee health. Employers should screen their workforce, look for patterns, and then address problems accordingly, he says.

For an employer with a high proportion of female workers more than 45 years old, a breast clinic would be a "fabulous" idea, he says by way of example.

The nature of the work and the work environment should also be considered. For employees who do a lot of outdoor work, melanoma screenings might be in order, but for workers occupying sedentary roles, blood pressure and blood sugar should be tested.

Better to invest in prevention than pay workers to stay home

Proper on-site health screening will pay for itself "over and over again", Burnett says. Rather than paying workers to stay home sick - and in some cases, paying for replacements - employers should seek to save money through prevention.

Employees who are physically and mentally healthy work harder and have a better relationship with their employer - "statistically, the savings to a corporation are just staggering", he says.

Employers that want to reap the benefits of a healthy workforce should avoid tiered programs, Burnett says. Companies that offer tiered health benefits, where only executives and senior managers have access to the full range of programs, create "an awful stigma" that is likely to "backfire" due to poor health and discontent among other workers, he says.

In Burnett's experience, opt-in on-site health screenings are usually very well attended. Quality Health Screening's consultations take an average of 15 minutes per worker and the convenience often attracts those who would otherwise neglect their health. Compared with the expense of sending a worker off-site for a simple test - which can cost a whole day due to travel and waiting time - it is extremely cost-efficient, he says.

At present, Burnett says employers should be encouraging flu vaccinations and ensuring workers understand the importance of washing their hands. Asthma and other allergies are also prevalent at this time of year, and there are ways to alleviate symptoms. BMI, cholesterol and diabetes are easy to measure and can flag potentially serious problems.

The screening process should focus primarily on educating workers, he says, "going through their eating habits, their lifestyle, their family history; making adjustments and giving advice".

When to stay home

Another area which warrants education is the importance of staying home when ill. Employers should "come down hard and heavy on that one", Burnett says. Those who allow contagious workers to come in "are asking for a major volcano to explode within the company. Please, tell them to stay home".

HR managers dealing with this issue should use common sense, and consider what they would advise if a sick worker were their child or spouse, he suggests. "Explain to the employee that they're not doing the company any justice at all by coming into work."

If necessary, and possible, the worker might be able to do some work from home, but "the important thing is to stay home and rest so they can get stronger and healthier a lot quicker and not contaminate the workforce", he says.

Do you know your cholesterol level, would your employees know if they had high cholesterol?

High levels of cholesterol in the blood, “hypercholesterolemia” is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease. Heart disease is a leading cause of death and a major cause of disability.

Have QHS Corporate Health perform a quick blood cholesterol assessment in the workplace and educate your employees about cholesterol and health. Saving you both time and money.

Help your employees decrease their chance of developing high cholesterol with the following

Tips:

Exercise: Even 30 minutes of physical activity five days a week can help lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol and raise HDL “good” cholesterol. For example walking; it’s low impact, easy, and all you need is a good pair of shoes. Start with a walk in your lunch break.

Consume a balanced breakfast: A bowl of oatmeal or whole-grain cereal that has fibre and complex carbohydrates, keeping you feeling full and helping reduce LDL cholesterol. Add some brown rice at lunch time too.

Eat fruits and vegetables: Five to seven servings a day help lower LDL.

Eat fish: At least once a week this lean protein is low in saturated fat and high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which may help lower cholesterol especially tuna, trout, sardines and salmon.

Snack on nuts: Nuts are high in monounsaturated fat, which helps lower cholesterol. Studies show that people who eat about an ounce of nuts a day have lower risk of heart disease.

Breathe Chronic stress can raise blood pressure. Research shows that stress might directly increase cholesterol levels. Reduce your stress levels with relaxation exercises, meditation, and deep breathing let us show you how.

For more information on Cholesterol visit http://www.csiro.au/resources/CholesterolFacts.html

(Courtesy of HR Daily – www.hrdaily.com.au)

Employers can expect a 300 per cent return on investment from their health and wellbeing programs, but with "managers' minds on other things", it's up to HR and OHS professionals to keep organizations "focused", says Return to Work Matters general manager Cheryl Griffiths.

Wellbeing programs are more important than ever, Griffiths told HR Daily, with stress-rates "soaring" due to the downturn.

When money is tight, she says, managers can be tempted to focus solely on the bottom line, but those that continue to invest in employee wellbeing can expect a healthy return through improved productivity and a reduction in staff turnover, absenteeism and stress claims.

She outlines a number of DOs and DON'Ts for "surviving the recession".

The DOs:

• continue to advocate for best practice OHS and return to work strategies. "There are proven business benefits that come from prioritizing disability management in the workplace";
• promote the cost savings of a healthy lifestyle. Ensure employees realise that regular exercise and cutting back on alcohol and cigarettes will save them money and improve their quality of life;
• encourage a "we're in this together" attitude. "History has shown that when difficult times bring communities closer together, mental health improves";
• communicate planned or potential downsizing or hour-cuts to employees with honesty and sensitivity. "Being upfront and thoughtful will minimize gossip and increase employee trust and goodwill";
• offer stress-management training. "Stress impacts mental and physical health. Stress also contributes to anxiety, depression, workplace accidents and chronic physical problems like heart disease"; and
• prepare for a spike in stress claims if lay-offs are planned.

The DON'Ts:

• don't allow an "us versus them" mentality to develop between management and staff. "If recession stress, fears about job security and productivity pressures cause the workplace to fragment rather than come together, employees' mental health will suffer, impacting on their performance and long term health outcomes";
• don't forget that increased demands for productivity can impact on relationships and morale. "It's all very well to ask employees to be more productive, but remember that such changes almost always cause tension. Unnecessary stress is the last thing the workplace needs mid-recession";
• don't underestimate the impact that job insecurity can have on health. "Studies have shown that job insecurity is as bad for your health as unemployment. Retained employees in recession-exposed industries will feel the heat. Help them cope with it"; and
• avoid a post-recession stress-claims avalanche by keeping an "eye on the ball" of disability management. "Claims numbers usually decrease during recessions but this doesn't mean that injury and illness aren’t occurring. Staff may put off claiming until job security improves."

This article appeared in HR Daily – subscribe for free now