May is a great month to celebrate National Employee Health and Fitness Day, which is third Wednesday of this month. The weather is getting warmer, and it is a great reminder of all the fun outdoor activities we can take advantage of — a great way to kick off health and fitness.

A healthy, happy workforce means less absenteeism due to illness and stress. There are many ways worksites can promote health through activities, in and out of the workplace. Not all worksites have the resources or time to offer these activities, others do, and they could act as a liaison to community organizations by actively promoting available activities to employees.

For example, in our community we have BikeCDA who organizes a lot of bike rides and other related activities which are open to the public. BikeCDA and other organizations such as City of Coeur d’Alene Parks and Recreation are part of Let’s Move! Coeur d’Alene, which promotes health and fitness to our community members through various coordinated activities.

If your worksite has the resources and/or an employee dedicated to employee wellness, there are many on-site or in-house activities you could promote in addition to what’s going on in the community. Friendly competitions amongst coworkers is always fun. Panhandle Health District’s (PHD) wellness committee offers employees plenty of opportunities to improve health and fitness through numerous activities.

For instance, PHD promotes Bike to Work Month and provides fun prizes at the end of the month to those with the most miles ridden. During National Heart Month (February), PHD offers blood pressure checks for employees. Each month there is some kind of wellness challenge to keep employees motivated to keep working toward healthy habits. Other ways to promote health is to remind employees to get up and walk to talk to a co-worker rather than call or email; take the stairs, not the elevator; for every hour one sits, walk for three minutes; invest in standing desks, if possible; organize walking or standing meetings … you get the picture.

Ultimately, health is the responsibility of the individual, but employers can support employees’ efforts toward healthy habits by providing a positive, healthy work environment. Every day, people face challenging decisions that affect their health. Employers can help facilitate healthy lifestyle habits by making the healthy choice the easy choice.

The Idaho Physical Activity and Nutrition program (IPAN), housed at PHD, assists employers in completing the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) Health Scorecard and creating an action plan for wellness activities. The CDC Health Scorecard evaluates many wellness areas including nutrition, physical activity, lactation support, occupational health and safety, depression, stress and weight management, and much more. In addition, PHD offers support and resources for implementing your action plan and creating policies such as tobacco control and lactation support, while also promoting the CDC’s National Healthy Worksite Program as another resource.

If you are interested in improving or implementing your worksite wellness program or would like to learn more about Let’s Move! Coeur d’Alene, contact Erin Whitehead, IPAN Coordinator, at (208) 415-5218. Erin can work with any employer in the five northern counties. Together we can make sustainable changes for healthy living in our community.

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Kimberly Young, MS, RDN, LD, is the WIC Coordinator at Panhandle Health District and a graduate of the University of Idaho Dietetic program.