(PHOENIX, Ariz., April 21, 2004) – Everyone’s doing it! Whether it is the Atkins or South Beach diet or the Mayor Phil Gordon’s Health Phoenix Initiative, Americans are looking for ways to shed the weight!

As the media continues to report that Americans are eating more and becoming less fit, Phoenix College is working to help its employees maintain healthier lifestyles.

From lunchtime lectures on managing stress and change to employee Weight Watchers meetings on campus, the Phoenix College Wellness Committee (PC Wellness) is working hard to cut employee health care costs and increase quality of life by encouraging and providing employees with the tools they need to become healthier.

PC Wellness is part of a District-wide initiative known as Wellness Maricopa. This program was designed to empower faculty and staff to make healthier lifestyle choices and informed health care decisions by providing comprehensive wellness opportunities through communication, education and health screenings. To ensure success with this program, there are seven dimensions of wellness on which the committee focuses. These areas include: physical, social, intellectual, emotional, occupational, environmental and spiritual.

This academic year alone, Phoenix College partnered with Blue Cross Blue Shield to offer free health screenings to its employees. These screenings included a health risk assessment on tobacco use, nutrition, physical activity, stress management, automobile safety, alcohol, medical information and biometric information. The screening also included on-site testing for blood pressure, total cholesterol, blood glucose, body composition analysis and height and weight.

In addition to this free service, the college also offers health-related lectures, on campus Weight Watcher meetings, walking programs, blood drives, Mammogram screenings (MOM) and opportunities to participate in outside fitness events.

"We must take preventative measures to ensure a healthy and happy workplace," said Phoenix College Fitness & Wellness Coordinator, Nicola Perry. "It was recently reported that our national health care budget spends approximately 90 percent of its funds on acute/chronic care and only 10 percent on preventative measures. Japan is just the opposite. They spend about 80 percent on preventative measures and only 20 percent on acute and chronic care."

Although May 19 is National Employee Health & Fitness Day, Phoenix College focuses on a healthy workforce year-round and encourages others to do the same.

Starting in May, Wellness Maricopa and PC Wellness will encourage members of the campus community to participate in Walking Works, an exciting new program developed by Blue Cross Blue Shield. Walking Works is designed to help people "step up" their level of physical activity by integrating walking into their daily routines.

Wellness Maricopa is a great model and other local companies and agencies have benefited from it including the City of Phoenix and St. Joseph’s Hospital.

For more information about this program, visit www.wellness.maricopa.edu.

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