Building a Healthier Chicago Honors 16 Area Employers
for their Excellence in Worksite Wellness
Healthy Worksite Initiative recognizes winners at Employer Wellness Forum
MBGH Media Contact: Cary Conway
CHICAGO – Sixteen Chicagoland employers including Ace Hardware, Advocate Health Care, Argonne National Laboratories, Mesirow Financial, Navistar, OfficeMax, Presence Health and Walgreens were recognized by Building a Healthier Chicago as winners of the inaugural Healthy Worksite Initiative for their best-in-class wellness programs. Today, they were honored at the Midwest Business Group on Health’s Employer Wellness Forum: Best Practices & Key Trends in Worksite Wellness, conducted in partnership with Building a Healthier Chicago (BHC).
“BHC’s vision is to support community-wide partnerships for health promotion that can be replicated nationwide through the use of existing and innovative public health, medicine and community activities,” said Dr. James M. Galloway, Assistant U.S. Surgeon General, USPHS Regional Health Administrator, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Region V.
“The Healthy Worksite Initiative provides employers of all sizes with access to resources and tools to help them better manage the health of their employees and families, resulting in increased productivity and related outcomes. We are proud to honor this year’s winners!”
Building a Healthier Chicago launched the Healthy Worksite Initiative in the spring 2012 to help employers more effectively assess, design and manage their worksite wellness programs. To accomplish this goal, no-cost, high-quality tools were created for Chicagoland employers with a focus on culture of health, leadership commitment, benefit/program design and measurement.
“We’re proud that eight of the winners honored for their leading best practices in worksite wellness are members of MBGH,” said Cheryl Larson, MBGH Vice President. “As innovators, these companies are not only helping to improve the health of their employee and families, but leading by example to support employers throughout the Chicagoland area and the nation.”
About Building a Healthier Chicago
Building a Healthier Chicago (BHC) is a collaborative initiative among the Chicago Department of Public Health, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of the Regional Health Administrator-Region V, the Chicago Medical Society, and the Institute of Medicine of Chicago. BHC’s goal is to improve the health of Chicagoland residents and employees through the integration of existing and new public health, medicine and community health promotion activities, and serve as an integrated, effective and sustained community-wide partnership for health promotion that can be replicated nationwide. To accomplish these goals, BHC focuses on three key areas: increasing physical activity levels, improving healthy eating and prevention. Learn more at www.healthierchicago.org
About the Midwest Business Group on Health
Celebrating more than 30 years of advancing value in health care and health benefits management, the non-profit Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) is one of the nation's leading business groups of private and public employers. MBGH's more than 100 members represent over 3 million lives, spending more than $3 billion on health care benefits annually. MBGH member benefits include educational workshops for health benefits management, networking opportunities, research, demonstration projects and community initiatives. MBGH is a founding member of the National Business Coalition on Health. www.mbgh.org