Human Resources: Healer, Heal Thyself

A program to focus on employee health was actually designed to have impact beyond the hospital campus and into the community.

It is a bit of an industry joke: Hospital employees are statistically among the most unhealthy Americans, particularly when it comes to cardiovascular health.

To combat this fact, Spartanburg (SC) Regional Healthcare System, an ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®-certified hospital, sought to focus on improving the health of its employees as it aimed to reduce the comparatively high rate of deaths from heart disease in the region—556 versus 536 per 100,000 nationwide.

And, with planning and effort, they did. Spartanburg successfully inspired employees to exercise, helped employees lose 1,759 pounds collectively, and identified 250 employees with elevated systolic blood pressure, while simultaneously improving the overall health of the community and creating a blueprint for other hospitals to follow that included the education of three OB/GYN groups, one family medicine group, Spartanburg Regional Medical Center's employee health department, and all of the medical residents who rotated through the chest pain department, as well as two employee wellness challenges and screenings.

Spartanburg is also part of the HeartCaring Program, a national campaign focusing on outreach and education about heart health issues.

"What we realized was that we needed to give this information out and take care of our own employees," says Mary Mathes, executive director of women and children's services at Spartanburg.

There was an opportunity, Mathes says, to set up an employee health program that could reach a large number of employees, and to do so in a gender-specific way—remarkably, over 80% of Spartanburg's employees are women. Not only could the hospital target a massive percentage of its workforce, but it could also tap into behaviors female healthcare providers may tend to exhibit.

"This information will not only go out to our female employees," says Mathes. "They would take this information back to their homes."

Organizers knew that women generally make the healthcare decisions for their families, "and so, if we could educate them, we knew this information would go into the home, and into the community," says Mathes.

Why do nurses and other healthcare providers so often exhibit signs of poor health?

"I think healthcare providers in general put themselves last," says Mathes. "They work long shifts and then they have the multitasking of lives outside the job. We recognize that as the healthcare field."

What Spartanburg wanted to accomplish, though, was to help its employees realize their own health was just as important as the lives of their families.

Getting the word out
Spartanburg works with an organization called Spirit of Women, which provided a wealth of evidence-based information and materials that could be distributed to staff.

"All we had to do was find a vehicle to provide this information to our staff," says Mathes.