Mercy Health Albury is doing all it can to help its staff stick to two of the most popular New Year’s resolutions: healthy eating and increased physical activity.
Mercy Health Albury has put in place a range of health and wellbeing promotions for 2016 to go hand in hand with the NSW Government initiative Get Healthy at Work.
Mercy Health Regional Return to Work Coordinator Diane Parnell said the goal is to increase the overall health of staff by encouraging and supporting small but important lifestyle changes.
“Throughout April we have had a focus on healthy eating with ‘No waste (waist) Wednesdays’”, explained Mrs Parnell.
“The idea was for staff to bring healthy ‘nude’ food to work at least once a week to not only help reduce waist lines but excess food packaging as well. As part of this promotion, our Health and Wellbeing Committee also supplied fresh fruit which our staff really embraced.”
A survey of Mercy Health Albury staff late last year found their main areas of interest around health are:
• healthy eating
• physical activity
• weight loss
• active travel (walk/cycle to and from work)
In May, the health service will turn its attention to promoting physical activity. Staff will be encouraged to participate in local community events such as the Alzheimer’s Memory Walk and the Nail Can Hill run/walk.
“Our allied health team will also continue to conduct walking and gentle flex/stretch activities every Wednesday to ensure we’re doing our bit to promote a healthy lifestyle in an increasingly busy world,” said Mrs Parnell.
Download full media release ( PDF, 217.3K )Last reviewed December 27, 2017.
