The Indian Wells Valley Community Health Council Awarded Work and Health Initiative Grant

by Debbie Robertson, Ridgecrest/Indian Wells Valley Local Coordinator

The Indian Wells Valley Community Health Council (CHC), with fiscal sponsorship from Ridgecrest Regional Hospital (RRH), received a two year $100,000 grant from the California Wellness Foundation to develop and implement a comprehensive community-wide wellness program. The program will focus on creating a healthy worksite as well as individual accountability for health and wellness. Key components of the program are planning and development, implementation and evaluation. This program will directly benefit the employees and employers and will be unique in that it will offer health promotion services to employers and employees of both large and small businesses throughout the small rural community of The Indian Wells Valley.

In October, 1999, Ridgecrest was chosen to participate in the California Wellness Foundation's Work and Health Initiative, administered by the California Institute for Rural Health Management (CIRHM). CIRHM gathered public opinions on the relationship between work and health in the IWV through a series of small community member discussions and employer surveys. Through these discussions and a follow-up Work and Health Conference held in Ridgecrest, it became apparent to the participating community leaders that the Indian Wells Valley could benefit from a comprehensive wellness program designed to improve the quality of life and the employer/employee relationship. Over the last decade, defense budget cuts have forced the Naval Station and the IWV into a downward spiral. The resulting transition has not only affected the area economy and population, which has declined from 40,870 to 36,280 over the last decade, but also employees' sense of purpose and commitment. Community members are experiencing a great fear of job loss and uncertainty, overwhelming stress and even marital disharmony.

The overall goal of this project is to improve the health and wellness of employees in the Indian Wells Valley by adjusting the corporate or business environment and improving the employees' perceived wellness. The sponsors of the project believe that the combination of education and action will lead to improved individual and corporate wellness. Through direct services offering a health promotion program, they hope to provide employers and employees with a means to become better educated on health and wellness. Another vital aspect of the wellness program is building upon the existing relationship between employer and employee to improve overall wellness on a corporate and individual level. Project methods and outcomes are to be made available on a local web site.

The proposed project will involve six to nine months of planning and development. Within that time period the following actions will be undertaken: developing the initial program design; developing and tracking needs assessments and surveys; establishing and maintaining systems for confidentiality; establishing provider participation; and marketing and promotion of the program.

The IWV Health and Wellness program will include the following (services) components:

Surveys of employer perceived wellness;
Baseline and follow-up surveys of employee-perceived wellness;
Quarterly employee newsletters relevant to wellness topics such as physical health, mental health, nutrition, etc;
Seminars offered every other month for Human Resources department heads or small business owners that will include the following topics; worker's compensation, safety, stress management, employer/employee communication, nutrition, fitness and more; and
Discounted health screening for employers to provide in the workplace.

Offering this community-wide health promotion program will enable employers and employees to actively participate in improving their own health and wellness. The benefit to the employer will be reduced healthcare costs and improved employee morale, productivity and dedication. The employee will gain by receiving improved health, better job satisfaction and better overall quality of life. It is a project goal that this program provide other small rural communities with a starting point for their own community health promotion programs.

Jim Teevans, CIRHM Consultant, converses with Jim Smith, Chair of IWVCHC, at the 3rd Annual DRIS Conference - February 2000

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