Health and Wellness

...to improve health care and reduce total health care costs in our regional community.

-Exerpt from the WNC Health Coalition Statement of Purpose

The goal of the Coalition's health and wellness services is to help employees and family members become as healthy as possible. Not only is this the right thing to do, but proper health and wellness is the ultimate means of containing health care costs. In fact, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 60% of health care costs are life-style related, therefore they are avoidable.

Since 1979, many employers have provided a variety of health promotion and disease prevention programs to their employees. And now, more than ever, employers acknowledge that obesity, lack of physical activity and smoking not only play a major role in the health and productivity of their employees, but also in the financial "health" of their businesses.

Employers typically target their employee's health/wellness directives on overweight/obesity, physical activity, smoking and conditions such as depression that are linked to the health and well-being of their employees. The reason is simple - healthy employees are:

• more productive
• have a better collective morale and
• are absent less often.

Additionally, healthy employees reduce business costs associated with chronic diseases among employees.

The WNC Health Coalition sponsors the Wellness Council of Western North Carolina to offer an expanded menu of worksite wellness programs and services, which include:

• Well Workplace Awards (WELCOA)
• Health Promotion Programs
• Health Fair Coordination
• Health Risk Appraisals and Testing Services
• Employer and Employee Resources