"Their company sales slogan is "It's hard to stop a Trane," but officials at the company's Lexington commercial air conditioning factory know that having almost a third of its workforce suffering from hypertension and high blood pressure can sure slow things down.
All three shifts at the Mercer Road manufacturing facility were told by the director of cardiovascular research and education at UK's Gill Heart Institute to start treating their bodies like they do their cars: by practicing regular preventative maintenance.
Unlike cars, which can use indicator lights to signify a problem, UK's Dr. Steven R. Steinhubl told the plant's employees, "the first time we notice a problem (with the human body) is when we have a heart attack. And unfortunately, a lot of the time that heart attack results in sudden cardiac death." But small changes, not lifestyle overhauls, can help fend off such catastrophic health problems.
"By walking 20 to 30 minutes a day - and not speed walking or jogging or running - 20 to 30 minutes a day and you decrease your chances of developing diabetes by 50 percent. For reasons we don't know, you cut the risk of developing cancer by a third, you cut the risk of having depression by almost a third," Steinhubl said.
In order to achieve wellness in the workforce, as is the trend with large employers nationwide who are fighting quickly escalating health care costs, Trane and its parent company American Standard are using the Lexington facility as a test-run for a corporate-wide wellness initiative. To get the programming going, Trane has received help from the Central Kentucky chapter of the American Heart Association and plans for the next year to participate in the AHA's Start! program to encourage employees to abandon their sedentary lifestyles and take time out of their days to take a walk or engage in other activities.
Trane debuted an indoor walking path around the factory and, once spring arrives, plans another for outside the plant in hopes of getting employees to use their lunch and two 10-minute breaks each day for light exercise.
"We'll encourage them to walk during those periods as opposed to sitting down and resting or going to grab those chips," the plant's general manager, David Magner, said. "We're going to have some volunteer programs and some competitions between departments, (such as) who can walk the most miles during a given month, and they'll win some awards, to encourage (wellness) not only when they are away from work but when they are here as well."
Not only does this attempt to improve overall health within the company benefit the employees and their families, Joey Maggard from the American Heart Association said, but a healthier workforce means savings for the company.
"Bypass surgery at any of the local hospitals is going to run $60,000 to $80,000, heart catheterization is going to run $6,000 to $8,000, and then if you have certain stents put in, it's even more expensive than that," Maggard said.
According to American Heart Association statistics, physically active employees save their employer around $500 a year in health care costs. Alternatively, unhealthy lifestyles can become very expensive if an employee's weight goes unchecked, as the AHA reports obese employees cost their employers $460 to $2,500 more annually than employees at a normal weight.
"Given the state of health care today, it is crucial employers look at opportunities to decrease their health care costs. It is a long-term goal, not a near-term goal, and it certainly is an effective way to decrease the bottom line. So we're recognizing that, and we're putting new programs in to effect that change," said Diane Ringeisen, part of Trane and American Standard's two-and-a-half-year-old Life Steps program, which provides testing, workout programs and health coaching to employees companywide.
"Raising the level of (personal health) awareness by having a structured, comprehensive program is a national corporate objective," she said.
The Start! program will be incorporated into Trane's monthly safety meetings over the next year and integrated into the factory's existing health fair, where employees can choose to have their biometrics checked, along with blood pressure, body mass index, weight and glucose levels.
Maggard said this is just the first company in Lexington where the Heart Association will take the Start! program. As a part of its goal to not only combat rising health care costs but make the people of Lexington more healthy, Maggard said the association has even sought corporate sponsorship for the endeavor and praised Cricket Communications, a mobile phone company relatively new to the Lexington market, for stepping up to assist in Start!
On top of encouraging people to become more active, the program will also encourage smoking cessation to improve cardiovascular health. According to a study quoted by Steinhubl to illustrate the value of smoking cessation to public health, if all smoking in America had ceased along with all advances in medicine and science at the same time in 1960, life expectancy would still be longer today than it currently is.
With the introduction of the Start! program as well as new blood pressure machines with the capability of keeping health stats for each employee in the break room, Magner hopes the next year will see a marked improvement in his workforce.
"A happier, healthier, more energetic employee is more productive, and it's a good thing for us and a good thing for them," he said.
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