Listen to this article

The Healthier Perth Amboy Workplace Wellness program is seeking to expand its reach to include local schools, warehouses, nonprofits or any Perth Amboy business that has more than 30 employees.

Healthier Perth Amboy is a coalition of hospitals, health care workers, nonprofits, city officials, teachers, principals and interested community members with the goal of providing residents with the resources and the tools necessary to reach their desired level of health.

To date, the program has partnered with Community Child Care Solutions. CCCS is part of the Healthier Perth Amboy coalition that includes the Raritan Bay Area YMCA and Hackensack Meridian Health Raritan Bay Medical Center. The Workplace Wellness program enhances the work that the Raritan Bay Medical Center already does. The YMCA and the HMH RBMC are hoping to improve health outcomes in the Perth Amboy workforce, beginning with its partners.

The main goal, said Robin Krippa, community partnership manager for Raritan Bay Medical Center, is to track and improve the health outcomes of employees, connecting them to the resources needed to improve their health.

According to Rebecca Pauley, community health coordinator at the Raritan Bay Area YMCA, enhancing employees’ health is only a small part of the equation. By building a healthier workforce, the Workplace Wellness program makes the business case for investing in health.

The program includes an initial health assessment and a toolkit outlining ideas for a healthier workplace. It also connects organizations to YMCAs and local hospitals that hold information sessions and offer services to participants. At the conclusion of the program, a second screening is done to measure improvement.

Funding from New Jersey Health Initiatives, the statewide grant program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, helps make the program possible.

CCCS provides services to children, their families, and childcare professionals through education, advocacy, referrals and access to financial assistance. “This is one of the initiatives they wanted to do – it was a natural fit for us to bring over our workplace wellness program and work with Healthier Perth Amboy,” Krippa said.

Krippa added employers benefit as well as the employees. “If you can catch something early by doing a screening before it becomes an actual issue, it is better for the employees’ health wise because you are catching something before it becomes a big problem for the employer. If you are keeping your employees healthy, you have better productivity, less call out and in the long run, if you catch it early, your health care costs are less,” she said.

The HMH workplace program speaks with businesses about how and where they can provide health and wellness screenings to team members. For example: blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, BMI and other screenings. It gives people an idea if they are at risk for something such as a heart attack, or stroke.

Screenings are non-invasive, and counseling services are recommended when appropriate.

“We go back to employers with the results and give them a report,” Krippa said. “For instance, we would tell them that out of 100 team members we screened, 75 percent of the population has high cholesterol or 55 percent have high blood pressure. No personal information is disclosed. Then we guide them on how can we help them move forward.”

This process ties in with Healthier Perth Amboy where they are looking to do this in the Perth Amboy market area and Raritan Bay Medical Center comes up with programs together to help them, Krippa said. For example, connecting an employee to a dietician, someone in the YMCA to talk about nutrition and exercise, or gym memberships for the team members.

Pauley said that the feedback so far has been good.

“At first we had a tough time getting business to buy into it. Usually this type of thing comes with a fee but this is free and cost effective for companies. We want to expand the amount of business we want to work with. The goal is to reach out to schools and teachers, factories in Perth Amboy and in particular, the Target warehouse,” Pauley said.

Valuing employee and community health actually is good for the bottom line.
– Rebecca Pauley, community health coordinator at the Raritan Bay Area YMCA

Healthier Perth Amboy believes that investing in health might not be the first thing business leaders see as their role, especially small business owners who are often stretched thin, Pauley added. Nevertheless, every company, large and small, is influenced by the health of their employees.

“That includes the benefits provided to employees and their relationships and footprints within the communities they work. Valuing employee and community health actually is good for the bottom line,” Pauley said.