Abstract:

The concept of Health and Wellness is taking on more and more importance in today's society. Chronic disease based and obesity due to a sedentary life style is increasing and draining medical resources in most western countries. Health and Wellness programs and consultants are frequently too expensive for local companies and organization. Universities and colleges are struggling with how to teach Health and Wellness in a way that is practical and experiential. In Rochester New York, several companies reached out to a local college suggesting that maybe the college could create a health and wellness program for local companies. The college created an inter professional health and wellness program that was individualized to each company based on responses from questionnaires that were distributed to employees and owners of the companies. The health and wellness program was a collaboration between six different departments at the college, and was supported by the administration at the college. The program consisted of two one hour meeting/month, or one extended meeting/month for each company. The college also sent out articles, pod casts, or videos on Health and Wellness related topics 1-2 times/week for the six months that the program were in place. This presentation will discuss how the program was developed, organized, and implemented What the outcomes were, plans for follow up, as well as what pitfalls to avoid in the future.