According to Lia Lansky, Baptist Memorial Health Care’s Director of Well-being and Resident Health and Fitness Expert, investing in employee health is the positive feedback loop that keeps on giving. 

Lia brings her extensive training and certifications in exercise physiology and nutrition to Baptist’s employer-based wellness program, BestHealth, which she and a team were able to develop thanks to a generous grant from the Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation in 2017. 

The initiative aims to transform the health and well-being of their employee population through an array of customizable wellness programs, a small investment that promises big company payoffs by reducing sick days, insurance claims, and other long-term financial hardships. 

“We want to show other organizations how they can help empower their employees to take care of themselves, leading to greater profitability for businesses while serving as a recruitment and retention tool.” 

BestHealth’s Offerings: 

BestHealth participants have a yearly biometrics screening and are offered well-being classes that include weight and diabetes management, emotional support, and preventative care, among other things. 

In addition to emphasizing the fundamentals of healthy eating and physical activity, BestHealth offers diabetes management services to those who meet certain requirements, waiving all medication, supply co-pays, and deductibles. 

Well-being specialists and nurses work directly with chronic disease populations on weight management and have collectively shed 20,000 pounds over the last five years. 

Plus, their six-week tobacco cessation series boasts a 65% rate of participants quitting or cutting back. And with the hospital’s access to medical equipment such as CT scans, they have even caught early-stage lung cancer in some employees. 

BestFit 

BestHealth’s team of exercise physiologists and personal trainers design tailored workout programs for participants, equipping them with specific exercise instructions that include exact sets of reps, with videos and photos for additional reference. 

To stay on track with their health and fitness goals, employees can opt-in to receive quarterly farmer’s market bags containing easy-to-follow, chef and dietician-co-created recipes like fish tacos with mango salsa or Buffalo chicken salad. 

Certified in the Fasting Method by Dr.Jason Fung, Lia is excited to add this service to BestHealth’s offerings soon. Currently, she is wrapping up an intermittent fasting study at Baptist in which those with 30+ BMIs were successfully moved out of the pre-diabetic range. 

BestYou 

In partnership with CONCERN EAP, this branch connects employees to emotional help through virtual, 30-minute group sessions covering topics such as Self Care Isn’t Selfish, Overcoming Trauma, and How to Say No. 

Employees have reported these educational, open-discussion-formatted offerings as less intimidating and easier to commit to. 

As a hospital, “we need to be good role models for patients so that people trust and can rely upon us,” Lia explains. 

BestHealth by Baptist 

Now thriving in its sixth year of service, the program has enough metrics to extend this service to other employers and has been working with external businesses since January. 

“Our mission here at Baptist is healing, preaching, and teaching. Now that we’ve seen how our BestHealth partner can heal our employees, it’s time to teach this to others in our community.” 

“I can’t imagine anything more important or valuable in an organization’s budget than the people you employ. Optimizing employees benefits companies in the abstract and significantly reduces healthcare costs.” 

For more information on BestHealth, visit Baptistonline.org/besthealth or call 901.227.4616. 

By Shlomit Ovadia 

Photo by Tindall Stephens