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For
Immediate Release- Thursday, February 28, 2008
Contact:
Kateri Wimsett
WorkWell Project Coordinator,
Thurston
County
Public Health & Social Services
412 Lilly Road,
NE Olympia
,
WA
98506
360-786-5581 ext. 16958# wimsetk@co.thurston.wa.us
Thurston Chamber Teams with
Thurston
County
Public Health
To Designate Healthy Workplaces
(
Olympia
,
WA
) Twenty-four local workplaces
have been named WorkWell Healthy Workplaces in the most recent effort to
improve opportunities for employee health and decrease chronic diseases in
Thurston
County
. The announcement was made this
month at the
Thurston County Chamber
Forum Luncheon at
Saint Martin
’s University.
The designation is part of a
collaborative program between the
Thurston County Chamber
and the Thurston County Public Health & Social Services Department.
The program is designed to recognize local employers who make a
commitment to address workforce health issues.
Employers within the Thurston Chamber who actively promoted changes to
their work envi
ron
ment or culture during 2007 were eligible for the program.
Applications were judged by a team of Chamber volunteers and Thurston
County Public Health and Social Services staff.
The program features three
levels of designations – Gold, Silver and B
ron
ze. Designation levels are
determined according to the level of organizational support from leadership or
senior management, combined with the implementation of modifications or
enhancements that positively impacted healthy eating and/or physical activity
during the year.
“We are excited to have
more than doubled the number of organizations which applied for and received
designations this year,” commented
David Schaffert
, President/CEO of the
Thurston
County
Chamber
. “Employees are among a
company’s greatest assets, and a healthy workplace is an important part of a
successful, profitable business. We
applaud these companies for their leadership by example, and look forward to
growing the program within our membership.”
“This program is built on a
strong partnership focused on supporting regular exercise and healthy food
choices for adults at their workplaces. It
is helping to reduce chronic disease and improve our community’s overall
health,” said Public Health and Social Services Director, Sherri McDonald.
Recipients of the
designations earn the right to display the WorkWell program logo at their
place of business, on their website, and in collateral materials.
“We hope they will display the logo as a badge of honor,” concluded
Schaffert. “These 24
organizations should be proud of what they have accomplished.”
Seventeen organizations
received gold designations by demonstrating management support for healthy
workplace activities as well having instituted at least one program each to
promote healthy eating and physical activity during the workday. Four
organizations received silver designations and 3 received b
ron
ze recognition.
The complete list of
recipients is shown below:
Gold
Designees
A Steve's Professional Truck
Mounted Steam Cleaning
City of
Olympia
GHB Insurance
Harborstone Credit Union
Intercity Transit
Lacey Adventure Boot Camp
LOTT
Alliance
Lucky Eagle
Casino
O Bee Credit Union
ProActive SportsMed
Providence St. Peter Hospital
94.5 ROXY/Premier Broadcasters
TAGS/ The Williams Group
The Creative Office
Thurston
County
Chamber
TOGETHER!
TwinStar Credit Union
Silver
Designees
Hands On Children's Museum
Thurston
County
Public Health and Social Services
Timberland Regional Library
Venture Bank
B
ron
ze Designees
Port
of
Olympia
Thurston
County
Economic Development Council
West Coast Bank
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