Happy CREATING A HEART HEALTHY WORKPLACE

Transcription

1 Happy CREATING A HEART HEALTHY WORKPLACE

2 Happy Creating Healthy Employees Many employees spend eight hours a day or more sitting behind desks, standing at workstations or driving. The combination of an unhealthy diet and a lack of physical activity create a greater risk of developing heart disease and stroke. Today in Ireland more people die from heart and stroke related diseases than from any other cause of death. However, up to 80% of cardiovascular disease is preventable. Through Happy Heart@Work, we encourage physical activity and healthier eating for employees. The health check programme encourages employees to adopt healthier lifestyle changes for a healthy heart, with support from employers. A WIN-WIN FOR EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES Introducing Happy Heart@Work can help reduce absenteeism by up to 20%. It also shows your company s commitment to employees and concern for their health and wellbeing. Employees enjoy better health and employers reap the rewards of greater productivity and lower costs it s a win-win for both sides. Promoting heart health makes good business sense. One third of premature heart disease is as a result of unhealthy diets. Regular physical activity at recommended levels can reduce risk of heart disease and stroke by 20% to 35%. Happy Heart@Work Happy Heart@Work programme comprises: Active@Work programmes and Active@Work Award Happy Heart Healthy Eating Award Employee Heart Health Checks Happy Heart@Work caters for companies of all sizes and compliments other occupational health initiatives. The programmes are designed to assist individuals with responsibility for health or welfare (e.g. Human Resource Manager, Occupational Health Nurse or the Health and Safety Officer) enabling them to plan, implement and maintain heart health programmes for employees. A co-ordinator guide is available for both the Active@Work and Healthy Eating Award, including a comprehensive plan, time frame, useful fact sheets, sample employee surveys, steps for a company policy and a resource list for further information. 2

3 HAPPY HEART HEALTHY EATING AWARD This programme aims to ensure that heart-healthy options are provided and promoted to employees in workplaces with catering facilities. How it works: Order your copy of the Healthy Eating Co-ordinator Guide which is a comprehensive guide on how to implement the programme. A pre-arranged independent audit of catering practices and food choices by an Irish Heart Foundation Dietitian will take place. A follow up review by the Irish Heart Foundation dietitian will take place about 8 weeks later. The workplace is awarded the Happy Heart Healthy Eating Award certificate, once the healthy eating goals are achieved. The Award is valid for 2 years and gives recognition that the staff restaurant has met the best practice national standard of the Irish Heart Foundation and is in line with the Department of Health s healthy eating guidelines. There is huge demand from our employees for healthier food choices. With support from the Irish Heart Foundation, we improved the healthy choices available on a daily basis and achieved the Healthy Eating Award. We are delighted to have a great relationship and support network with the Foundation. The end result is everyone is happy The Catering Provider, the client & all of our customers. Claire Pomeroy, Catering Manager, Compass Group Ireland 3

4 PROGRAMMES An active workforce is a healthy business. Most people find it difficult to make time to get active, which is why promoting physical activity at work can make a big difference. The more options the better and that is why we offer a variety of programmes to encourage employees to be active in their own time, at their own level and without requiring major company time or cost. The Active@Work Award gives recognition to the excellent work companies are doing to create a more active workforce and to encourage healthier behaviours. STEP CHALLENGE WALKING CHALLENGE The Walking Challenge is easy to organise and it encourages employees to build up to the recommended 30 minutes or more of moderate intensity physical activity five days a week, in their own time, such as walking or jogging during lunch or walking to and from work. Participants receive a walking diary card to record their minutes of activity and a certificate of achievement on completion of the challenge. The Walking Challenge calculates time spent walking while the Step Challenge calculates steps taken. The Step Challenge encourages employees to achieve and maintain the target steps of 10,000 steps per day using a step counter. All participants receive a diary card to record their steps and a certificate of achievement on completion. The pedometer motivates employees to be more active and allows them to get instant feedback on their activity levels. SLÍ@WORK Slí@work creates an active environment for employees by providing a range of indoor and outdoor motivational signage, prompting staff to incorporate walking into their working day. You can choose which components of the programme will suit your organisation from a mapped walking route to some indoor motivational posters. 4

5 SLÍ NA SLÁINTE TIME OR DISTANCE CHALLENGE DESK WORK-OUT The Slí Time or Distance Challenge motivates employees to walk on a regular basis. Employees have an option to take on the Silver Challenge by walking 100 km (or 1,000 minutes) or the Gold Challenge by walking 500 km (or 5,000 minutes), either in their own time or incorporated into a workplace challenge. A handy pocket sized z-card is used to record activity. A silver or gold Slí pin is awarded on completion. Desk Work-Out is a web-based physical activity programme with a series of aerobic, stretching and strengthening activities to encourage movement and activity at the desk. As many employees work at sedentary jobs this programme is a great way of energising and stretching the body during the working day or at home. The programme can be accessed on irishheart.ie/deskworkout ACTIVE@WORK AWARD The Active@Work Award is designed to support and enable small, medium and large sized companies to promote, develop and sustain physical activity programmes. There are three different levels of achievement for the award: bronze, silver and gold. Workplaces can apply for any level but must meet the specific criteria outlined in the Active@Work Award coordinator guide. The Award gives formal recognition for your company s efforts and achievements in acknowledging the benefits of physical activity for your employees and business. The Active@Work Award prompted us to develop the physical activity side of our health & wellbeing programme. It encouraged us to think of ways to get all employees involved in a various range of activities to suit all needs and gave us recognition for the work we did. The big benefit for us was seeing employees who were not very active to begin with become more active and join in the activities we planned. While achieving our overall objective of gaining involvement in physical activity, it also really helped to improve engagement across the organisation. Nicola Murphy, Engineer, Lake Region Medical 5

6 HEART HEALTH CHECKS The heart health check includes: The Irish Heart Foundation has been conducting heart health checks in companies for 40 years. A heart health check takes approximately 30 minutes per person and all employees will receive an individual heart health record card with results and recommendations by Irish Heart Foundation trained nurses. Consultations are performed in private and an appropriate room on site is required per nurse. The Heart Health check provides employees with invaluable information about their health. Blood pressure check Cholesterol check (breakdown of good cholesterol, bad cholesterol and triglycerides) Glucose check Weight measurement which includes waist measurement and body mass index Individual one-to-one lifestyle advice is also given on the other risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, alcohol, physical inactivity, stress and diet. This check is tailored to each individual. Carbon Monoxide check (for smokers) and advice on quitting smoking. Personal record of all tests, and where necessary advice to see GP The health checks were a terrific day and the feedback we got from the staff was fantastic. Those who received good results were delighted and also relieved to know there was nothing to worry about. Staff that had areas to address were grateful to be informed and it was an excellent opportunity to get tips from the Irish Heart Foundation nurses on how to improve their heart health. Thanks to all involved. Susan O Reilly, Branch Manager, Bank of Ireland Why choose the Irish Heart Foundation? The Irish Heart Foundation has been a leader in workplace health for the last 20 years and is the only national organisation in the area of heart disease and stroke. The Foundation has a team of highly experienced and qualified professionals and has developed resources and programmes to support workplaces in promoting heart health. The Irish Heart Foundation participates in the Irish External Quality Assessment Scheme for cholesterol and glucose testing to ensure health check results are accurate. 6

7 Mini Heart Health Checks A Mini Health Check Day is one of the support services provided through the Happy Heart at Work programme and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of a given company. Companies often opt to run this type of day during their Health & Wellbeing Weeks, Healthy Eating Weeks or Health & Safety Weeks. The nurse will provide information at a stand and do blood pressure, weight measurement and/or carbon monoxide checks (for smokers). The one-to-one advice offered by the nurse is a vital part of this check. Each person receives a personal record card with their results and in the event of any abnormal results is advised to follow up with their GP. Be a healthy weight As part of your Health and Wellbeing days, Irish Heart Foundation nurses can do weight assessments, including waist circumference and body mass index and offer tailored advice on healthy eating and weight loss. All employees receive a food diary to track their eating habits over a period of time and a free waist measurement tape to manage their waist measurement. Additional Materials A range of the following leaflets is available from the Irish Heart Foundation, in addition to posters on healthy eating and physical activity. Blood pressure Cholesterol Losing weight Stress Healthy eating Salt Physical activity Smoking MANAGE YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE and reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke HEALTHY EATING to reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke MANAGE YOUR STRESS and reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke QUIT SMOKING to reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke 7

8 SIGN UP FOR HAPPY HEART AT WORK The Happy Work programme incurs a nominal cost. For more information or to register your interest, fill in our online form telephone or info@irishheart.ie CORPORATE SUPPORT The Irish Heart Foundation is the national charity fighting heart disease and stroke. We support, educate and train people to save lives, campaign for patients, promote positive health strategies, fund research and provide vital public information. The Irish Heart Foundation enjoys tremendous support from companies across the country who come together to raise vital funds in support of the fight against heart disease and stroke. We have opportunities in the following areas: Sponsorship Charity of the year Employee volunteering Corporate donations Employee giving For more information contact our Corporate Fundraising team on Charity Number CHY 5507 Irish Heart Foundation 50 Ringsend Road, Dublin 4. D04 T6X0 Phone: Fax: info@irishheart.ie Heart and Stroke Helpline: Locall Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm Web: Happy Heart@work is supported by the HSE.