Driving a heart bargain
Public Service Review: European Union 18
Dr L Dorian Dugmore, President and Founder of Wellness International discusses the growing recognition of the benefits of corporate wellness programmes.
The global recession, accompanied by the current financial crisis, has put an ever increasing burden on corporate Europe. People inevitably are the driving force behind any business surviving and succeeding in such difficult times. Consequently their health and wellness becomes of paramount importance for any organisation to survive and prosper.
According to the American Institute of Stress, 70 to 90% of all visits to primary care physicians in the USA result from stress-related disorders. To cope with these complaints, Americans alone consume five billion tranquilisers, three billion amphetamines and sixteen thousand tons of aspirin every year. Europe is rapidly following this ‘pill popping’ example with a growing emphasis on employees and businesses performing under increasing pressure. Add to this corporate organisations being forced to downsize and work longer hours even at reduced salaries in order to survive, and the inevitable costs can often be reflected in poor health among corporate populations.
During such times it becomes paramount to look ‘beyond the barriers’ in order to focus on what is needed to keep corporate Europe healthy and well. Medical science has made great strides in connecting external factors such as diet, lifestyle and the environment to the rise in some of our most serious diseases. We now accept that high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, obesity, raised blood sugars leading to diabetes, and smoking are all high risk factors for heart disease.
Many corporate populations are well versed in knowing their business numbers: the profit and loss of the business, its targets and key performance indicators. In contrast, the people who run these businesses and work in them often have no idea about their health and wellness numbers, the latter being vital to their health because it often represents early predictors of potential health problems in the short-to-medium term.
Some companies, however, are breaking new ground, looking specifically at cardiac rehabilitation and wellness in the corporate setting. These programmes:
- Ask the organisation and its employees what they need and desire;
- Structure programmes that meet these needs, beginning with a baseline evaluation of the company’s health and wellness;
- Deliver appropriate interventions that improve health and wellness;
- Measure improvement and benefits to the business and the health of its people;
All of these represent exciting potentials for the future, especially when one looks at treatment and rehabilitation medicine. A previous study on cardiac rehabilitation by the Carinex group in Europe cited data from 15 EU states showing that fewer than 50% of patients eligible for this service actually received it. For those who did, in many countries the service stopped after only a few weeks. Again the focus has to move upstream where ‘prevention together
with rehabilitation’ forms a seamless care service. Where better to capture both elements than the corporate environment, through the implementation of well-rounded programmes. These can deal with reducing cardiovascular and lifestyle risk, optimising wellness by improving health and fitness, promoting regular exercise, sport and healthy nutrition together with stress reduction programmes that touch not only employees but also their families.
In summary, with the explosion of many major diseases that are often termed ‘diseases of choice’ and influenced by a ‘less than optimal’ lifestyle, the excitement surrounding corporate wellness has never been greater. Within the United Kingdom, the impending arrival of the Olympic Games in 2012 presents an opportunity to leave many legacies, none more engaging than improving the health and wellness of countries throughout the UK and Europe.
The success of these programmes emphasises the power of ‘knowing your wellness and health numbers’ alongside your business numbers. The latter is highlighted by Paul Zane Pilzer in his book ‘The Wellness Revolution’ where he forecasts that wellness, including corporate wellness, is set to become a trillion-dollar industry.
Some cardiovascular organisations are now realising that there is a need to create a range of practical interventions and guidelines that help engage people in looking after their health and wellness. The recently formed European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation and their nucleus on Sport Cardiology have produced several sets of recommendations for people taking exercise, ranging from elite sportspersons to those who have suffered from heart problems. Indeed their Nucleus on Prevention and Implementation begins to explore the potentials for corporate wellness, encouraging health and sport companies to promote their employees as ‘ambassadors’ for prevention and wellness.
Through corporate wellness and its success there is a major contribution that can be made to move away from the ‘Still Addressing Disease (SAD) principle’ and downstream medicine, to preventing disease and moving upstream, optimising health, wellness and corporate success.
Download – Driving a heart bargain (pdf)
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