The Consortium for a Healthier Miami-Dade is proud to present the third annual 2011 Worksite Wellness Forum and Awards luncheon which will be held on Friday, April 8th at 11:30 a.m. at the Miami Beach Resort and Spa and emceed by Miami’s own CBS-4 anchor Shannon Hori. Key Note Speaker, Diane M. Canova, JD, Vice President, Policy and Programs of the Partnership for Prevention will deliver her “Putting Prevention to Work!” address – a theme which complements the $14.7 million “Communities Putting Prevention to Work” grant from the Centers for Disease Control awarded to the Miami-Dade County Health Department which includes a worksite wellness component. Awards to small, medium and large businesses will be presented by Lillian Rivera, Ph.D., Administrator of the Miami-Dade County Health Department.

Last year’s luncheon featured a corporate wellness expert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who discussed how current healthcare legislation affects employers and wellness programs.   The program which now has been extended to companies located in the Southern half of Florida honors organizations that demonstrate a high commitment to employee wellness and whose programs produced measurable positive health outcomes.    It is also designed to encourage other organizations to join the effort when they see the benefits that workplace wellness programs provide.  
 
Last year’s winner of the small business category – businesses with less than 500 employees, went to Camillus House – a non-profit organization that provides humanitarian services to men, women and children who are poor and homeless. The mid-sized category winner – businesses with 500 to 1,000 employees – went to Henderson Mental Health Center, the largest non-profit behavioral healthcare organization in South Florida. The winner of the large business category – businesses with more than 1,000 employees – went to Baptist Health South Florida, the region’s largest not-for-profit healthcare organization, consisting of 5 hospitals and 20 outpatient centers.  
 

(l-r) Shannon Hori, Anchor, CBS-4; Lillian Rivera, Ph.D., Administrator, Miami-Dade County Health Department; Tori Gabriel, MBA-HA, Director of Education & Prevention, Florida Heart Research Institute and Committee Chair; Carlos Alvarez, Mayor, Miami-Dade County; Gabrielle Solomon, Research Program Associate, Health Foundation of South Florida and Committee Co-chair; and Anne-Karen Weller, Assistant Community Health Nursing Director, Miami-Dade County Health Department.
“In an era of rising healthcare costs and increased risk for chronic diseases, this program is essential for educating the local business community about the many wonderful benefits that worksite wellness programs provide,” said Dr. Rivera. Business owners, managers, human resource professionals, insurance brokers, healthcare carriers and those interested in wellness are encouraged to attend the luncheon. 
 
More than half of healthcare costs are due to preventable unhealthy lifestyles and stress. Tobacco and alcohol use, lack of physical activity and poor nutrition all contribute to increased health costs. Many employers have already experienced the vast benefits of a healthier workforce, including reduced healthcare costs, increased productivity, decreased absenteeism, as well as an overall improvement in staff morale and company loyalty that can be produced with comprehensive worksite wellness programs.
 
The Miami-Dade County Health Department initiated the Consortium for a Healthier Miami-Dade in 2003 to address the increasing rates of chronic diseases in the local community. The Consortium is comprised of community agencies that work in collaboration to promote healthy lifestyles including a healthy diet, regular physical activity and not using tobacco products. The Worksite Wellness Committee is a workgroup of volunteers dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles in the work setting by sharing information on best practices and by creating partnerships to implement worksite wellness activities.