Doctor touts health programs at businesses

BREWER – Maine could become the “No. 1 healthiest state” in America through a joint community effort, a well-known health official said Thursday.

Speaking at a business wellness conference, keynote speaker Dr. Erik Steele, vice president and chief medical officer of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, pointed out: “There are only 1.3 million people, 36 hospitals and five insurance companies [in Maine]. This can be done.”

Steele said the task would be a difficult one, but it could be accomplished. To help Maine residents reach healthier lifestyles, the entire community needs to work together, including employers, he emphasized.

“If you think personal responsibility is going to be successful, I think you’re done for,” Steele said.

Steele suggested that companies reward employees financially for participating in wellness programs. “Nagging doesn’t work,” he said. “We need to build health incentives.”

The physician, who also writes a column for the Bangor Daily News, spoke at a 40-strong business casual crowd Thursday morning at Well Workplace University, a biannual conference that helps businesses form and maintain healthful lifestyle programs for employees.

Well Workplace University was started three years ago by the Bangor Region Wellness Council and is sponsored by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

The council was formed in January 2002 and is affiliated with the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce.

Conference attendees learned tips for running wellness programs at their businesses. Various workshops were held throughout the day on subjects including how to convince managers to create wellness programs, how to encourage employees to participate, and evaluating outcomes.

During his presentation, Steele urged government programs, business managers and physicians to focus on a few key integrated messages, such as telling people to walk 10,000 steps every day.

People are bombarded with what Steele called a “blizzard of messages” about their health, and all that information promotes inaction, he said.

Steele praised the University of Maine in Orono for its success in bringing the surrounding community into its fitness center. “You can’t walk in there without running into some granny swinging barbells,” he said.

Leslie Billings of the HRH Northern New England insurance company, which has a wellness program, said Steele made a key point. “It’s going to take all segments of the community” to improve public health, she acknowledged.

Kawika Thompson, the manager of health improvement for the University of Maine System and a council member, said that wellness programs benefit companies financially after about three years of service.

The short-term benefits are improvements in morale, productivity and attendance, council director Katrin Teel said, while long-term benefits include lower insurance costs, less workers’ compensation and the advantage of diagnosing a serious disorder early.

On March 8, the Wellness Councils of America, a nonprofit organization that promotes healthy lifestyles for Americans, awarded the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce the first “Well Region” award in the United States.

In order to receive this citation, the BRWC was required to incorporate at least one-fifth of the region’s labor pool and have a minimum of 20 participating companies awarded for successfully promoting healthful lifestyles to their employees.

Teel said she didn’t believe that the honor was awarded to this area because of the actions of a few individuals.

“It happened because we all worked together,” she said.