Health is important no matter whether people are at work, school, home or traveling. Staff members who are healthy have higher productivity, lower absenteeism and lower costs related to healthcare, insurance, worker’s compensation, disability and training. The implementation of a workplace wellness program benefits employees and employers and is a cost-effective measure to promote everyone’s health.

What Is a Workplace Wellness Program?

A workplace wellness program is a comprehensive set of programs, policies, benefits and environmental supports uniquely designed for a particular organization to meet the health and safety needs of all employees. No two workplace wellness programs will be alike due to the different working environment, characteristics and staff needs. These programs are often managed by an independent agency working together with health insurers and business managers.

What Does a Workplace Wellness Program Include?

Workplace wellness programs include an assessment of the worksite to determine any health risks present in the environment. Next, planning takes place to determine interventions and infrastructure changes to the facility. The program is then implemented for all staff and includes health promotion interventions and risk reduction measures. Typical activities or interventions in a workplace wellness program include health education and personalized health coaching, weight management programs, health fairs, medical screenings, on-site fitness programs and healthy cooking demonstrations. Finally, an assessment is done to determine the effectiveness of the program. If the program is to be ongoing, interventions may be updated, and assessments may continue on an intermittent basis.

The Benefits to Employees

There are many benefits to introducing a wellness program at work. The benefits include financial, productivity, loyalty and health improvements.

• Reduced risk of chronic diseases
• Lower stress
• Better weight management
• Improved stamina and productivity
• Lower costs for prescription medications, healthcare premiums and doctor’s office co-pays

Employer Benefits of Workplace Wellness Programs

More than 200 scientific studies have been published attesting to the benefits of instituting workplace wellness programs. Many of the reasons for their implementation are benefits to the employer, such as:

• Increased retention and recruitment of high-quality staff
• Lower healthcare costs
• Less employee absenteeism
• Improved employee morale and interpersonal relations
• Enhanced team-building
• Lower rates of workplace illnesses and injuries

Setting Up a Wellness Program at Work

Business owners who are ready to lower healthcare-related costs and enjoy all the other benefits of a workplace wellness program can contact Passport Health’s travel health specialists for guidance and assistance with program implementation. Passport Health travel health specialists offer services that include vaccinations, advice on travel health, assistance with preparing medical and travel supplies, guidance on the use of mosquito repellent and sunscreen, and testing for infectious and chronic diseases. Employees can also receive personalized consultations including pre-travel health exams for work-related travel.

Sources:
Workplace Health Promotion
Wellness in the Workplace
Benefits of Worksite Wellness Programs

Long gone are the days when people just wanted to sit in a chair and watch the world go by while on vacation. Today’s international travelers increasingly seek adventure and thrills that capture the essence of the place they are visiting. However, with the rise in experiential travel also comes an increase in the risk for injury, illness and infection. Learning how best to protect yourself can help ensure that your adventure will be fantastic from start through finish.

What Is Experiential Travel?

Experiential travel is a vacation taken up a few notches to include experiences that resonate at an emotional or even spiritual level. These sorts of trips are more personalized, more hands-on, more adventurous and more attuned to the local culture of each destination. Some people take part in experiential travel for the purposes of self-discovery while others want to immerse themselves in the unique aspects of what drew them to the destination in the first place.

Health Risks of Experiential Travel

There are several components to experiential travel that can put the health of travelers at risk. These risks include:

• Far-off destinations. An adventure to a rainforest or exotic locale may be far from health care facilities should you develop a sudden illness or become injured during your trip.
  

• Action. Experiential travelers are not content to sit in a chaise at the side of the hotel swimming pool for a week. Rather, they want to get out and do things. Many activities increase the risk of injuries, exposure to mosquitoes carrying parasites, and other infectious diseases spread by animals and insects.
  

• Exposure to endemic diseases. In these out-of-the-way world destinations, the locals may not have been vaccinated against diseases that are rare in North America. As a result, you could become exposed to diseases such as polio, yellow fever and typhoid.
  

• Poor sanitation. You will likely have a difficult time finding filtered or bottled water while skydiving off cliffs in Nepal or exploring the Amazon. There is a risk of food-borne and water-borne diseases.

How to Stay Healthy During Your Adventure

With some preparation and preventative action, you can head out on whatever type of experiential travel adventure you can imagine and still protect your health. About two months before your departure, schedule a pre-travel health exam with a travel health specialist. You will receive any necessary travel vaccinations to reduce your risk of picking up infectious diseases during your trip. Travel health specialists can prescribe preventive medications such as anti-malarial drugs to begin taking before you depart. You will also receive guidance on packing for a healthy trip, such as which sunscreen to take, the best type of mosquito repellant and how to select a water purification kit. You may also want to consider travel health insurance, trip cancellation insurance and medical evacuation insurance in case of an illness or injury during your adventures.

Sources:
National Geographic: 7 Travel Trends You Need to Know Now

In an ongoing study of the efficacy of HPV vaccines at Stiftung Juliusspital in Weurzburg, Germany, researchers examined the antibody levels of girls who received the vaccine at ages 10 through 14, which is the recommended time period for vaccination. The Adjuvanted HPV vaccine is a three-dose series of shots that aims to prevent infection from HPV types 16 and 18, which are responsible for the majority of cases of cervical cancer. Scientists continue follow-up of the cohort to determine how long the vaccine can protect against HPV infections.

What Is the Adjuvanted HPV Vaccine?

The adjuvanted HPV vaccine is bivalent, which means it contains antigens against two types of HPV. To receive the full benefits of HPV vaccination, you need three shots. The second shot comes one month after the first shot, and the third shot comes six months after the first shot. In the U.S. and Canada, a name-brand HPV vaccine is recommended for use in young men and women ages 13 to 26.

Why Is HPV Vaccination Important?

HPV is responsible for causing over 17,000 cancers annually in women and more than 9,000 cancers annually in men. In addition, it’s the cause of a common sexually transmitted infection, genital warts. HPV is passed from person to person through skin-to-skin contact during sexual activities. It can affect the throat, anus, penis, cervix and vagina. There are no screening tests for many of these cancers, some of which are not detected until the disease is severe and no treatments are available. Treatment for genital warts can be uncomfortable, and the condition may be embarrassing. Vaccination against HPV can minimize your risk of these painful, serious and sometimes deadly infections.

Who Is Eligible for HPV Vaccination?

Women aged 13 to 26 and men aged 13 to 21 are eligible for HPV vaccination. It’s important for both young men and young women to be vaccinated because men can spread HPV to women through sexual contact. The vaccine can help lower the risk of cancers in all young adults. The researchers at Stiftung Juliusspital in Germany estimate that HPV vaccination provides detectable protection for at least two decades, which covers the time when young people are becoming sexually active and planning families of their own.

Benefits of HPV Vaccination

The repercussions of cancers caused by HPV in women can lead to the need for radical treatment such as hysterectomy. This surgical procedure renders women infertile. HPV vaccination also prevents cancers in men. Early vaccination against HPV before the onset of sexual activity minimizes the risk of such drastic complications to reproductive and overall health.

How to Get Vaccinated Against HPV

If you’re in the eligible age range for vaccination, it’s not too late to get vaccinated. You can also complete the HPV vaccination series if you’ve only had one or two of the shots. Parents should schedule this vaccine for their sons and daughters to help protect their future health. To schedule your vaccination against HPV, you can contact your physician, pediatrician or a travel health specialist at Passport Health. Travel health specialists can also provide you with other vaccines to help guard against infections during domestic and international trips. You’ll receive guidance for packing, such as what benefits you can get from sunscreen, mosquito repellant, water purification tablets and sunscreen.

Sources:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: HPV and Cancer
Infectious Disease News: Adjuvanted HPV Promoted Long-term Antibody Persistence in Preteen, Adolescent Girls
CNN: HPV Vaccine Effective in Men

If you think that you don’t need an on-site flu vaccination program at work, think again! A dedicated immunization effort will have several positive effects on your business. Many people do not end up getting a flu vaccine on their own time since they are unaware of the need to do so, and in turn, they may end up spreading the disease throughout the workplace. This is your chance to engage in public health education with the people who matter the most to your business — your employees. Here are some ways that an on-site flu vaccination program can have a positive effect on your business operations.

Reducing Absenteeism

When workers contract the flu, they tend to lose an average of five working days annually as they try to recover from the illness. However, some people take longer to recover than others, and they may begin to get better as others get sick. Your workplace could be suffering from absenteeism and staffing shortages for a couple of weeks if the flu hits your employees hard. After a while, this could lead to contracts not being upheld and profits being lost. Up to 20 percent of American workers will fall ill with the flu each year, so it makes sense to vaccinate your employees and ensure that they will be present at work during the flu season.

Boosting Employee Morale

When a large portion of a community is ill, productivity tends to suffer. People might stay at home due to their concerns about getting the flu and passing it on to their family members. Your bottom line will begin to suffer as projects fall behind and people avoid the workplace out of a fear of illness. By encouraging employees to get vaccinated at work, you can help them feel safe about coming in to perform their essential tasks. The protection granted by the flu vaccine extends far beyond the workplace, which can calm their fears of spreading the flu to other people. Your company will continue to thrive during the flu season if you set up an on-site vaccination program.

Reducing Travel-Related Illness

Perhaps your employees travel frequently in order to serve the needs of the company. During the height of flu season, they might be traveling through airports or public transit hubs. This could put them at risk of contracting the virus and spreading it back through the workplace, which in turn causes productivity to suffer. By starting an on-site flu vaccination program, you can make sure that anyone who travels for work stays safe and healthy.

On-Site Flu Vaccination Programs: A Key Part of Public Health

If you are interested in starting an influenza vaccination program at your workplace, you should strongly consider using Passport Health’s corporate services. We will assign travel health specialists who can visit your office and administer flu vaccines to employees who need them.

Vaccination is the smart choice for a business that doesn’t want to slow down because of an outbreak of illness. By maintaining a positive public health environment in your office, you can boost productivity and play an active role in the health of your employees. Contact Passport Health today for more information about setting up an account.

Sources
CDC Key Facts Page on Flu Vaccines
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Guide to Establishing a Work-Site Influenza Program
Passport Health Article on Establishing On-Site Vaccination Programs

The flu is serious business, but this common ailment is commonly misunderstood. Watch this video to dispel 8 of the most prevalent flu myths.