Health Matters July 2016

Health Matters To Help People Be Healthy

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July 2016

Lifestyle keys Living a happy, healthy life

HaysMed

Provided to our patrons free of charge

Photo by JOLIE GREEN From left, Jodee Altman, group fitness and aquatic manager at the Center for Health Improvement, leads Hays Medical Center Associates Chelsy Proehl, Jaci Gottschalk, Donna Burgess and Tammy Jacobs in an exercise using bands during a Workout on Wednesday session.

HaysMed joins healthy push H ospitals are where people often go to get healthy. In hospitals across Kansas, however, there is a growing awareness that making the most effective community changes often starts from the inside out.

A statewide initiative from the Kansas Hospital Association is supporting efforts to help hospital employees achieve their health goals. Not surprisingly, Hays Medical Center is on the forefront when it comes to embracing this mission.

“We feel like in the community of Hays, we’re the health-care leaders,” said Stephanie Howie, Fitness Director Page 2

at the Center for Health Improvement.

“And being a health-care leader, you also have to set an example.”

HaysMed in October 2013 formed an Associate committee to begin identifying and implementing ways to help Associates become healthier and happier. The interdisciplinary team has introduced new programs to address various aspects of well-being, including physical fitness and nutrition.

In order to help people move forward in their health journey, it is essential simply to get them moving. Fitness and exercise are large components of the Healthy Kansas Hospital programs

The Mission

adopted by HaysMed. A new program called Work Out Wednesdays — or WOW, for short — gives Associates the opportunity for a quick lunch-hour fitness regimen in the hospital’s main building.

The 15-minute workout doesn’t require people to change clothes, and isn’t terribly strenuous, but provides an accessible and enjoyable group activity, Howe said.

An indoor walking trail also has been established in the main hospital building, giving Associates an always-accessible way to stay active.

See PUSH, page 5 Health Matters

Cafe with a new focus

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f you really are what you eat, HaysMed wants to be sure Associates, patients and visitors have access to good, healthy foods.

Significant changes have been made to the cafeteria and menu in recent years, culminating with a complete remodel of the garden-level dining facility, which is now known as Rock Garden Cafe, and opened in March.

The heart of these changes, however, go beyond the cafeteria and start in the kitchen, where Food Service Manager and Chef John Fitzthum has been working to change the culture for the past several years.

He is passionate about serving real, quality food to Associates and patients alike.

“I say we’re taking a kitchen from box cutters to chef’s knives,” Fitzthum said.

That means stepping back from the abundance of pre-manufactured foods that have been a staple in many cafeterias and mass-feeding facilities for years.

The Rock Garden Cafe now bakes its own bread fresh daily and serves a variety of fresh-cut fruit and produce.

Its deli features meats that were cut and prepared fresh in-house, and new fresh food stations feature Associates cooking entrées such as omelettes, pancakes and sandwiches to order.

As part of the Healthy Hospitals initiative, efforts also have been made to educate Associates about making good food choices. Water infused with fresh fruit and vegetables is made available as an alternative to soda, and campaigns have emphasized the importance of consuming sugar in moderation.

Fitzthum also has been working to introduce new foods and even started an “Ingredient of the Month” initiative, in which Associates are invited to try foods prepared with a healthy food they might not have tried before.

Some of those ingredients, such as garbanzo beans, have become a hit.

The cafeteria now sells approximately a dozen quarts of homemade hummus each week.

Portion control has been another Health Matters

Photo by JOLIE GREEN Food Service Manager and Chef John Fitzthum builds a vegetable sandwich in the deli area in the renovated Rock Garden Cafe at Hays Medical Center.

Hospital earns statewide honors Hays Medical Center in late June received a Kansas Hospitals Centers of Excellence Award for its efforts to improve the health and well-being of Associates and the community at large. The award was given by the Kansas Hospital Education and Research Foundation.

The award recognizes the efforts made by HaysMed’s corporate wellness program, MyHealth. It also notes the implementation of a healthy food/beverage policy in 2016, and the offerings of more healthy foods and beverages. HaysMed also has taken additional fitness initiatives, such as providing two indoor walking trails and weekly workout classes.

In addition to statewide recognition, HaysMed will receive $1,000 to further MyHealth programs. initiative used.

“I think that’s one thing Associates are finding in the cafe. Because we have real ingredients, they are starting to learn that with the nutritionally dense food items, they’re getting full,” Fitzthum said.

“They taste better, but they don’t need an entire plate of Stouffer’s lasagna vs. our 4- to 6-ounce portion of homemade lasagna.”

Overall, there has been heightened

Food

awareness of the role diet plays in personal health. It takes fitness and good nutrition to make long-lasting changes that improve a person’s health and reduce the risk of injury or illness.

And ultimately, that’s what it’s all about.

“HaysMed is a different hospital, in my opinion,” he said. “They’re really trying to be preventive.”

• KALEY CONNER Page 3

Online aid helps with tracking

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s Associates take the first steps toward better health, HaysMed is striving to provide them with all the resources they need for success.

Among those resources is an individualized online portal that can track personal progress and even provide Associates with daily and monthly challenges, some of which offer incentives.

The upgraded MyHealth website, which went live about a year and a half ago, includes logs to keep track of food, exercise and sleep habits. It even tracks health data such as weight and blood pressure.

“Some people stay motivated by tracking their progress,” said Kelly Flaska, Aquatics and Fitness Supervisor at the

Kelly Flaska and Samantha Horacek.

Center for Health Improvement. “It makes them accountable.”

The program offers daily challenges

covering a wide range of personal health habits. Goals might include a day without sugar, sleeping a proper amount at night and even taking time to de-stress during the day.

HaysMed staff create special challenges about once a month. Those challenges have included keeping a seven-day food log and a “March Madness” tournament encouraging teams of associates to log as much exercise time as possible.

Winners of the special challenges are awarded healthy prizes, such as a free nutrition consultation or a complimentary salad bar meal.

The MyHealth website tracks overall points and boosts participants to higher levels with more information as they progress.

It also allows Associates to interact with each other and to form online teams. That can be a great way to build accountability and encouragement, said Samantha Horacek, Corporate Wellness Coordinator at CHI. “They can encourage each other and give kudos to each other,” Horacek said.

The technology is just another piece of the puzzle when it comes to finding a way to motivate as many Associates as possible to make the change. It often just takes reaching one person in a department, and then that person naturally begins encouraging their co-workers, Flaska said, noting more Associates seem to be participating.

“I think we’ve definitely seen some changes,” she said. “And it just takes one person.”

• KALEY CONNER

Page 4

Online

Health Matters

Associate finds a better way

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t was chronic pain that helped drive Jill Zordel to pursue a healthy lifestyle.

After having back surgery, she hit a low point when she was unable to manage the pain. She also had gained weight during that timeframe and knew there had to be a better way.

Zordel, who has been employed at HaysMed for more than a year, started going to the Center for Health Improvement every day.

“I’ve lost over 60 pounds, and I feel so much better when I go,” Zordel said.

“When I have to skip a day or can’t go due to my clinic schedule, I just feel terrible.”

She recently was recognized for her efforts when she was named HaysMed’s first Health Champion. The award, which recognizes an Associate who has made significant lifestyle changes, is part of the Healthy Kansas Hospitals initiative at HaysMed. Zordel was nominated for the award by a co-worker, and was rewarded with a brand new pair of athletic shoes.

“It feels good, and it’s just more of an encouragement to keep going,” she said of the award.

Her back pain has improved tremendously, in part due to her success in building strength and losing weight. In addition to working out, Zordel said she

Taking steps

has been striving to eat healthier and completely stopped drinking pop.

She goes to the gym with a group of co-workers from the DeBakey Heart Institute, and she said that accountability and peer support has been an important part of her health journey.

“Everyone is so helpful here. If you ever

Any business can take steps to help employees become healthier and happier.

As part of community outreach efforts, HaysMed is offering training, tips and support for local businesses in cooperation with the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce.

There will be a training workshop in early October for businesses that are interested in making changes. The free training is provided by the WorkWell Kansas program based in Wichita.

The Center for Health Improvement also offers consultations and resources for corporate clients.

For more information, contact CHI at (785) 623-5900. have questions about what something is, they’re just so helpful,” she said. “The people at the gym are so helpful and willing to take the time to help you find a workout program for you.”

• KALEY CONNER, Hays Daily News

PUSH, from page 2 “The big thing we talked about with our Associates was the benefits of taking active breaks,” Howie said. “A lot of people just keep going through the day and don’t take a break.”

In addition to burning calories and getting exercise, active breaks have been shown to increase attentiveness and boost productivity and creativity.

HaysMed also is home to an outdoor walking trail that is open to Associates and the public, but the indoors option is ideal for Associates who don’t have time to leave the building. It also will provide year-round access, regardless of the weather.

This change in culture is reflected throughout the entire medical industry, Health Matters

where increasingly more value is being an important part of long-term success. placed on preventive lifestyle changes, Ultimately, the best changes in personal Howie said. health happen when someone is deterHaysMed long mined to make them, has been a leader in Howie said. the arena, opening “You’ve got to its Center for Health change the mindset Improvement 15 years with every single ago. Hospital Associworkforce, whoever ates enjoy significant works in the hospital in discounts on memberany position,” she said ship rates, which more about the importance HaysMed Associates Jaci Gottschalk, than 600 of HaysMed’s of preventive care. “It’s left, and Donna Burgess use exercise 1,400 Associates take time that hospitals balls. advantage of. have to change. They Besides offering as many opportunities have to make a commitment that we have as possible, encouragement from peers is to make this change.”

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