Workplace Wellness Program- Group 2 Project
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School
University of Houston *
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Course
4334
Subject
Health Science
Date
Apr 3, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
6
Uploaded by stacyleechov2
NUTR4334- Community Nutrition
Instructor Aliye Cepni
First Draft Community Group Project
Group 2 Team Members: Bryshanna B., Rose B., Amy B., Jadon B.
Topic 2: Design a Workplace Wellness Program to Reduce High Cholesterol and Hypertension Amongst Employees
1.
Identify and Describe
the nutrition problem (Amy)
1.1. Job satisfaction is not always the easiest goal to attain, even when you are in a career you thoroughly enjoy. There are many factors which contribute to being fully content in your role at a company which can include salary, schedule, commute, and benefits. One often overlooked aspect, is employee wellness. Employee wellness (both mental wellness and physical wellness) can mean the difference between high attrition rates, as well as excess insurance costs (for both the employee and employer). 1.2. We have identified your company as one of the few with a remarkably low turnover rate,
which means you have excelled in providing a gratifying work environment. However, recent surveys have also identified a majority of your tenured employees as “at risk for”,
or currently experiencing, hypertension and high cholesterol levels; which is costly due to medical needs arising from these factors.
1.3. The Workplace Wellness Program that we have designed to help combat these conditions, would be of great benefit to not only the employee’s overall health, but to you, the employer, as well. Our goal is to provide a space, programs, incentives, coaching, and accountability, for the employees to greater improve their health, and give
you a completely well-rounded working environment, and ultimately reduce the hypertension and high cholesterol rates amongst your very dedicated staff. This program will be free of charge and reasonably accommodating to all of your employees in order to eliminate any barriers they may be facing when it comes to taking a proactive approach to their health. We will outline the specifics of the plan below. 2.
Describe Diversity Issues related to treating the problem (Bryshanna)
2.1.
While diversity is good to have in your workplace, it can also impose some issues. There
are diversity issues in most settings you are in, especially the workplace. Everyone comes from diverse backgrounds, and everyone has different necessities that they would like to have met. Race, gender, and age play into several factors of health. For example, men on average intake more calories than women do. Women also have maternity issues
that they must deal with that men do not. More specifically, African Americans are more
susceptible for health issues, like high cholesterol and hypertension. People older, such as 55 years old and up, are at higher risk for health issues like high cholesterol and hypertension. Another issue with trying to accommodate people in the workplace is culture. If your company provides nutritious snacks and meals but does not accommodate nutritious snack options for people with diverse cultural backgrounds or even vegans/vegetarians, then your company may be viewed as unfair and ignorant. Providing free high-intensity workout classes would not benefit older people in the
workplace that can only participate in low-intensity exercise. Although it may be expensive to satisfy everyone's needs, it is important to take into consideration the diversity in your company and how you can help everyone and not just a portion of your employees. How can we make accommodations for specific people who need them, while also maintaining equality in the workplace?
3.
Identify Existing Programs or Resources for helping to treat the problem (Rose)
3.1. There are several different programs, organizations, and resources available to Houston energy workers that can help treat both high cholesterol and hypertension in the workplace. One of those existing organizations is the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The NHLBI can provide employees with the proper nutritional resources to help reduce hypertension and high cholesterol. The NHLBI is an organization that offers
meal planning guides, recipes, and educational material on heart health, readily available
of their website. Some information that the NHLBI provides are resources such as the DASH diet, Healthy Eating Plan, Sodium Reduction Toolkit, NHLBI recipe collection, and their comprehensive booklet, “Your guide to lowering blood pressure with DASH” (NHLBI, 2022). A publication written by the NHLBI (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “In Brief: Your Guide
to Lowering Your Blood Pressure With DASH” is also another great resource for people
dealing with hypertension. The DASH diet is a proven dietary approach to help reduce high blood pressure, putting emphasis on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein, and low-fat dairy without any complex recipes. This publication is a summarized guide, based off of the original 60-page DASH Eating Plan guide. This brief, six-page guide was created by NIHBI as a quick reference guide that details the DASH Eating Plan by food group, servings and calories, serving sizes, examples, and their significance. This plan also includes a form to help track food and physical activity habits prior to the start of the DASH eating plan to see how the user is doing after a few weeks (NHLBI, 2015). 3.2. Houston is also home to the Harris Health System, a healthcare system that provides healthcare services to the residents of Harris County, Houston. For those who live in Harris County, the Harris Health System provides nutrition counseling and education to help patients combat hypertension and high cholesterol. Offering patients with individualized nutrition plans, cooking classes, and support groups (Harris Health). However, despite their strengths, these organizations and resources have their limitations
and often have gaps in what their resources and organizations offer. Although the Harris Health System provides several services and programs, there are some limitations to their approach. These limitations may include limited resources as they serve a large part
of Houston, often making it difficult to provide individualized nutritional support. And if
there is a demand for services, wait times may rise and would ultimately limit access to programs. Lack of follow up and limited access to these resources via transportation are also some limitations that the Harris Health system may face. Since the Harris County expands across Houston, transportation may be a major issue for those living in low income neighborhoods. Especially in a city where walking or biking to the nearest store or hospital is often not an option.
3.3. Limited access to Healthy foods is another major gap in the resources offered by the Harris Health system. For patients living with limited financial resources, access to healthy foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables are not always affordable. Although Harris Health System’s Fresh Food Farmacy is available, it may not be accessible to all patients in the Houston area as they are only available to those who can access the Acres Home Health Center, Lyndon B Johnson Hospital, and the Strawberry Health centers (Harris Health). 3.4. The booklet, “In brief: Your Guide to lowering your blood pressure with DASH” and the
NHLBI organization also have limitations as well. Although the booklet itself provides a
good guideline for the DASH diet, it does not provide culturally specific diets and food allergies. The booklet also fails to provide guidance on how to modify the DASH diet for individuals who follow certain dietary needs such as if the individual were vegetarian, pescatarian, or are athletes who may need more carbohydrates and calories in
their diet. In addition, individuals may not be able to financially afford some of the items
on the list. While many fresh fruits and vegetables are much more expensive and less affordable in comparison to processed foods. Limited account of factors such as age, gender, and ethnicity are limitations that the NHLBI faces with the resources that they provide for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Different ethnicities, ages, and gender groups consume different types of foods. Similar to the DASH diet, most of the resources that the NHLBI provides do not take into consideration these factors.
4.
Develop and Describe a Nutrition Program to solve the program (Jadon)
4.1.
The name of the program will be COACH (Control Over Ailments for Cholesterol and Hypertension) based on the research conducted, the aim of this program is to lower the levels of sodium and saturated fatty foods in which both male and females would be intaking on a daily to weekly basis. We are aiming to replace the foods which are heightening your sodium and cholesterol levels to harmful/ unhealthy, we want to provide healthy alternates in which everyone can enjoy and commit to eating weekly, this program will also take into consideration the fact of allergies as well. The optimum level for LDL is between 100-129 mg/dl foods which are considered to lower LDL levels and maintain are oats, whole grain foods, nuts, apples, grapes, strawberries these certain fruits because they are rich in pectin in terms of vegetables okra and eggplant because of their solubility. In terms of sodium intake, we want to maintain our daily intake levels between 1600-2100 mg per day food which can attribute to the are beans, fat free or low-fat dairy products, whole grains and poultry fat free and low-fat dairy products are limited to twice a week only. Combing these foods throughout breakfast, lunch and dinner can lower and maintain our hypertension and cholesterol levels we can also include some of these foods to snack on throughout the day.
5.
Outline a Plan for evaluating outcomes of the program (all)
5.1.
Initially take a baseline assessment from all participants that include the employee’s health status (cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and other related health stats)
5.2.
Periodically bringing in medical professionals to assess progress of employees (on a monthly basis) through minimally invasive measures (i.e.; Taking vitals, weight, measurements)
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5.3.
Offer incentives for employees who keep and turn in completed food and exercise journals
5.4.
Annual incentives for employees who complete annual physicals with their physician as well as incentives for those who obtain standard seasonal vaccinations
Reference Page Rose:
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2015, August). In brief: Your guide to lowering your blood pressure with DASH. Retrieved from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/files/docs/public/heart/dash_brief.pdf
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2022, 24 March). Treatment for high cholesterol. Retrieved from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/blood-cholesterol/treatment
Harris Health System. (N.d). Food Farmacy. Retrieved from https://www.harrishealth.org/services-hh/population-health/Pages/food-farmacy.aspx
Amy:
Landsbergis, P. A., Dobson, M., Koutsouras, G., & Schnall, P. (2013). Job strain and ambulatory
blood pressure: a meta-analysis and systematic review.
American journal of public health
,
103
(3), e61–e71. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301153
Bryshanna:
Deere, B. P., & Ferdinand, K. C. (2020). Hypertension and race/ethnicity. Current opinion in cardiology, 35(4), 342–350. https://doi.org/10.1097/HCO.0000000000000742
Flegal K. M. (2000). Obesity, overweight, hypertension, and high blood cholesterol: the importance of age. Obesity research, 8(9), 676–677. https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2000.87
Bertolotti, M., Lancellotti, G., & Mussi, C. (2019). Management of high cholesterol levels in older people. Geriatrics & gerontology international, 19(5), 375–383. https://doi.org/10.1111/ggi.13647
Jadon:
11 foods that lower cholesterol - Harvard Health Publishing. (2021, August 13). Retrieved February 19, 2023, from
https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/11-foods-that-
lower-
cholesterol
Dash eating plan. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2023, from
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/education/
dash-eating-plan
Question Page (for writing consultant)
Rose: 1. Am I to go into more detail (such as pulling sources and citing journals/peer reviewed entries) for my limitations and gaps in resources? I wasn’t too sure if it was too long or not.
a. Sub question: if I were to go into more detail, am I allowed to pull information from journal articles, or other forms of references that are not peer reviewed articles? Or should I strictly stick to peer reviewed articles?
2. Am I crediting my sources appropriately? I used information from the Harris Health System website but they had no date available on the site.
Bryshanna:
1. Are we supposed to word the proposal as if we were talking to the employer or should it be more formally written as if it were a paper?
2. Am I supposed to just describe the diversity issues with treating the problem in the workplace,
or am I supposed to propose solutions for the issues as well?
Amy:
1. I wasn’t sure if this paper needed to be worded as a proposal or a general descriptive paper. Is it awkward to word the intro as if we are speaking directly to an employer?
2. Does my part (first 3 paragraphs) clearly identify and describe the problem or does there need to be more elaboration?
Jadon:
1. Should I create a diet plan for the entire week day by day food plan?
2. Do I expand more on how the foods would further impact the body?
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