Wood County Hospital recognized for healthy worksite practices

Wood County Hospital is one of 119 Ohio employers being recognized by the Healthy Business Council of Ohio for healthy worksite practices. 

The Healthy Worksite Award recognizes Ohio employers that demonstrate a commitment to employee wellness through comprehensive worksite health promotion and wellness programs.

Applicants are scored on the extent their wellness programs facilitate and encourage employee health, enhance productivity, and ensure a healthy work environment.

“In addition to celebrating the existing wellbeing efforts of Ohio worksites, this award is designed to support worksites in their efforts to advance their programs and offerings,” explained award chairperson, Annie Laurie Cadmus. “Annually, we offer a document that contains aggregate data of the results so worksites can utilize it to benchmark against their peers in the state and provide data to leadership about regional wellbeing trends.”

All applications were reviewed and evaluated using objective criteria. Four levels of high achievement were awarded in 2021 —Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. To celebrate the accomplishments of Ohio worksites and their efforts to pivot and adapt during the pandemic, a Pandemic Response Section was included in this year’s extensive award application.

“I am honored to accept this award on behalf of Wood County Hospital. We are very proud of our accomplishment,” said Teri Laurer, director of wellness and occupational medicine. “This award is a representation of various departments in our hospital who work together to support the health, safety and well-being of our employees and staff. We strive to improve our worksite wellness initiative each year, and we are thrilled to learn that our initiative went from earning the Gold level in 2020 to earning the Platinum award this year. It is a great opportunity to take the values of our organization and put them into practice for our own employees.”

The online award application is available to all Ohio-based worksites from mid-August through late October each year. The awards ceremony will be offered virtually as part of the Health Action Council’s 2022 Conference Series at the Cleveland event in February. The symposium features national experts on wellbeing, resilience and health reform. The public is invited to register for this event at the Health Action Council website.

A full list of 2021 award winners can be found on the HBCO’s Healthy Worksite Award website: https://healthactioncouncil.org/HBCO/ Healthy-Worksite-Awards.