BCEEA Celebrates Workplace Health and Wellness In Style!
If you are wondering why we are grinning from ear to ear it’s because we combined two major endeavours last week.
We held our first province-wide live meeting event to celebrate health and wellness initiatives led by excluded employees and we hosted a learning session with a health promotion expert on “Mood, Food and Stress”.
Health & Wellness Award Winning Team
We’re very pleased to be in the fourth year of our commitment to facilitating an increased focus on health and wellness in the workplace. Our award recognizes the key role excluded employees play in leading team projects that improve our working environment and in influencing their organizations to make great contributions towards wellness at work.
Why is this important? Mano Sandhu, President of the BCEEA, points out that research consistently demonstrates that a healthy workplace can do wonders for job satisfaction, productivity and personal well being. Since most of us spend about 60% of our waking hours at work, we all share the responsibility for, and reap the benefits of, making a healthy workplace a reality.
This year’s award goes to the Strategic Human Resource Team for the Ministries of Community and Regional Development and Tourism, Culture and the Arts. They achieved outstanding scores in every category and we congratulate Kim Russell, Elizabeth Killam, Kerry Taylor, Emma Griffiths and Christina Carvalho for their long term commitment to improving health and wellness in their organizations.
To get a snapshot of their initiatives click here.
Kim Russell would be happy to chat with others about their program. You can reach her at 250.387.8976 or kim.russell@gov.bc.ca.
Health & Wellness Award Finalists
These folks have dedicated their time and talent to promoting, teaching and encouraging others to improve or maintain healthy lifestyles. We know how many competing demands are pulling at managers every day, which makes our finalists’ accomplishments all the more remarkable. Kudos to all the finalists for their contributions to our health and well being in the workplace.
Abbotsford Community Corrections – for their enthusiastic commitment to making their teams healthier and to reducing stress in the workplace.
Tracey Hawthorn in the Workers’ Advisors Office – who demonstrates her dedication to fitness by leading regular exercise sessions and encouraging active living.
Excluded Management Team at the Environmental Assessment Office – for racing, bocce ball playing, biking, herb growing and a myriad of health activities!
Rob Draeseke, Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation – for stepping ahead of the curve and leading green initiatives before it was easy. He continues to push his colleagues to consider being greener!
Health and Wellness Team at the Ministry of Labour – who took the amazing race theme to amazing lengths. They virtually traveled the province and engaged almost 80% of ministry staff.
Click here for the Health & Wellness Finalists slide presentation.
Food, Mood, and Stress
Leah Hawirko, B.Sc. (RD) is a health promotion expert and has 20 years experience working in community, corporate and acute care settings. She is passionate about the importance and power of preventative health. Leah is currently the Director for the Centre of Excellence for Tobacco Reduction, Western Canada.
At the BCEEA’s Health & Wellness Award presentation on December 7th via Live Meeting, Leah spoke about how our daily food choices can have a real impact on how we function at work. Our frustration or focus; procrastination or productivity might just be linked to the latte we pick up on the way to work or whatever we munched when we flagged in the afternoon. In these times of increased stress and uncertainty we want to ensure that our daily habits support our brain and body to the best of their ability.
Interested in what Leah had to say? Click here for her “Food, Mood & Stress” slide presentation.
Special Thanks to our Collaborators
- Lori Wanamaker and Dale Wall for their support of health and wellness in their organizations and for cheering us on.
- David Galbraith and Lisa Stevens from Act Now BC for lending us their marketing expertise.
- Andy Hazlewood and Debbie Leach from Health Services for their enthusiastic assistance with the award criteria.
- To all the nominees and their nominators in the BC Public Service who are so obviously committed to making their workplaces healthier and more inviting.
- BCEEA staff, Tanya and Carolyn who stood on their heads to make our first Live Meeting event a success!
