U of D & Delaware Fit Biz

UNIVERSIT Y OF DEL AWARE COOPER ATIVE EXTENSION’S WORKSITE WELLNESS INITIATIVE, DELAWARE FIT BIZ
Helps Delaware Worksites Improve Employee Health

By Nancy Mears, Extension Agent, University of Delaware

According to Healthy People 2020, most Americans do not eat a healthful diet and are not physically active at levels needed to maintain proper health. Across age and gender, American’s average daily fruit and vegetable consumption does not meet intake recommendations. Compounding this is the fact that most adults (81.6%) do not get the recommended amount of physical activity.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recognizes that everyone has a role in helping support healthy eating patterns and physical activity in multiple settings nationwide, specifically whe e people live, learn, work, play, pray and shop. Policy, systems and environmental (PSE) change strategies can be implemented across a continuum and may be employed on a limited scale as part of a multi-level intervention through community and public health approaches.

Strategies are normally community-focused, populationbased interventions aimed at preventing a disease or condition or condition or limiting death or disability from a disease or condition. Using a three-tiered approach focusing on direct education, PSE change strategies and marketing/promotion, conditions are created where people are encouraged to act on their knowledge and awareness. According to the CDC, more than 156 million full-time workers in the U.S. spend most of their daily waking hours in the workplace, making them an ideal location to implement supportive approaches for health and wellness.

Delaware Fit Biz (DFB) is a worksite PSE initiative, funded by USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - SNAP, that implements PSE strategies in two worksites in Kent and Sussex Counties. Promoting health and wellness in the workplace can reduce absenteeism, lower health care costs, improve employee morale, reduce employee turnover and enhance employee recruitment.

Delaware Fit Biz is not just another worksite wellness program, but a menu of health behavior change strategies designed to create a culture of health. Through the implementation of policy, systems and environmental changes (PSEs), supported by technical assistance, marketing and coordinated  educational programming, Delaware Fit Biz will ensure that the healthiest choice is the easiest choice for employees!

MAKING SMALL CHANGES AT THE WORKPL ACE GREATLY IMPROVE EMPLOYEE HEALTH