MUSC Builds Meditation Labyrinth on Downtown Campus
CHARLESTON, S.C. – JANUARY 2019 – The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is recognized by the South Carolina Hospital Association’s Working Well initiative for earning the Strategy for Wellbeing Platinum award for the second year in a row. This award symbolizes excellence in workplace wellbeing and support for optimal employee health. Strategy for Wellbeing is an interactive, automated online platform designed to help employers implement best practices in employee wellbeing. MUSC achieved the recognition by earning Platinum status in all nine Strategy for Wellbeing dimensions of wellbeing: Wellness Culture, Risk Assessment & Outreach, Nutrition & Food Environment, Physical Activity, Tobacco Free, Emotional & Mental Wellbeing, Financial Wellbeing, Incentives & Communication, and Evaluation.
The Strategy for Wellbeing Platinum designation recognizes MUSC’s commitment to creating a culture of wellbeing for their organization by making wellness part of their infrastructure, and day-to-day operations, and implementing a comprehensive approach that focuses on policy, systems, benefits, and environment to support optimal health. “MUSC’s commitment not to just lead by example but model healthy behaviors through a supportive culture is evident in their successes. MUSC has set an example of innovation and effective implementation strategies to all South Carolina employers,” commented Jen Wright, Working Well Program Director.
MUSC launched a new employee wellbeing campaign, Imagine U, in July 2018 to support an enterprise strategic goal to build healthy communities. The program is built on an institutional learning platform and includes over 100 challenges that allow employees to develop a plan to improve their personal health in four areas of wellbeing; nutrition/weight management, physical activity, preventative care and psychosocial health. All employees are eligible to participate, earn quarterly incentives and receive recognition for their efforts. MUSC continues to find innovative ways to impact the overall health of all who visit its campus, including a weekly Farmers Market, the MUSC Urban Farm, Smoke-Free Medical District, Meditation Labyrinth and Medical District Greenway. These are only a few examples of MUSC’s commitment to providing healthy options and innovative programs that contribute to a higher quality of life, healthier environment, and overall wellness for all who visit the campus.
“It is an honor to receive this recognition from Working Well. We have been partnering with Working Well as a Center of Excellence since its inception in 2011, and we attribute many of the successes we've accomplished to our participation in this program,” said Dr. Susan Johnson, Director of Health Promotion at MUSC. “MUSC is dedicated to promoting health and wellness not only to our own employees and students but to the entire community through our Imagine MUSC 2020 Strategic goal of Building Healthy Communities. Our partnership with Working Well provides collaborative opportunities to extend our reach to maximize the impact of our work and we look forward to continuing our great work in 2019!"
Working Well helps employers develop a strategic plan to impact employee health and productivity by focusing on policy, systems and environmental changes, which are often low or no cost. Working Well aims to help employers create a sustainable culture of wellbeing by using effective, evidence-based best practices to create healthy work environments.
Research demonstrates that employees performing at optimal health can have a major impact on an employer’s bottom line by contributing to lower health care costs, less absenteeism, higher productivity, and improved morale. Healthy employees perform better and are more productive and more engaged than their unhealthy peers. “On behalf of MUSC, we are honored to receive this award. It reflects a purposeful path we chose several years ago to support healthy lifestyles in our own team members as well as the community,” said Dr. Pat Cawley, CEO, MUSC Health.
“This award recognizes MUSC’s innovation and commitment to the health of their employees, students, and the community they serve,” said Wright. “The team at MUSC understands that to continue to be successful in motivating lifestyle change, they must continue to enhance their employee wellness program and broaden their wellness programming to include new dimensions and areas of wellbeing. Working Well congratulates their efforts to successfully expand their employee wellbeing program to include all nine dimensions of wellbeing and continue to provide innovative ways to motivate their employees’ behavior change!”
For information on how to improve your worksite’s environment to better support employee wellbeing, contact Emily O'Sullivan, Working Well Program Manager, at 803.454.6969 or eosullivan@scha.org.
Working Well was founded through the support of The Duke Endowment and is managed by the South Carolina Hospital Association. Working Well is an effort to improve population health across the state of South Carolina by establishing cultures of employee wellbeing where the healthy choice is the easy choice.
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