Elizabeth Centre awarded gold for workplace wellness
Created and implemented policies to reduce stress and encourage healthy habits
Friday December 5, 2008 -- Camille Jensen
Staff members from the Elizabeth Centre were awarded gold standing by the Sudbury and District Health Unit (SDHU) in their efforts to implement a comprehensive workplace wellness strategy.

“With caregivers, the healthier the staff, the better care our residents get,” says Liane Pelissier, Elizabeth Centre resident and family services co-ordinator.

The Sudbury long-term care home took on the challenge in January, which involved a seven-month campaign that focused on raising awareness, building education and implementing policies and guidelines that dealt with coping with stress, healthy eating and active living.

To achieve their gold designation, the home utilized resources from their local health unit, bringing in guest speakers such as nutritionists and wellness nurses.

The home also sought involvement from all the staff members, who were able to provide feedback and share their ideas for workplace wellness. Pelissier says it was important to engage everyone from dietary to housekeeping to make the campaign successful.

“It gets them involved and they appreciate that their input is valuable,” she says, adding 150 staff members contributed to the initiative. “It doesn’t just come from management, it’s everybody’s input that is important.”

One of the home’s most successful endeavours was initiating a WeightWatchers at Work program. Twelve staff members participated in the project and were able to support each other towards their weight-loss goals.

The Jarlette-owned long-term care home also extended its paraffin-wax treatments to staff members.

“It is a really relaxing therapy it’s good for the hands and good for fine motor,” says Pelissier.

Policies around healthy eating were implemented at the home and have resulted in nutritional snacks offered in the tuck shop and alternative food choices during in-services and staff appreciation luncheons.

The SDHU created the Workplace Wellness Champion Award two years ago as a method to engage more organizations on the value of healthy lifestyle options, according to Tania Freimanis, SDHU public health nurse.

She say the health unit is encouraging sustainable solutions through the award which requires organizations to implement policies and guidelines to achieve gold standing.

“We are trying to develop a supportive environment for the organization so everyone benefits. If you actually put a policy in place, it moves workplace wellness forward.”

Pelissier agrees, adding the home’s policies and guidelines will ensure longevity of the practices.

“We figured a good way to keep the staff healthy would be to jump on board with this initiative and to implement things that would not only benefit us during the work that we were doing to achieve the award but to keep us going (in the long term).”

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