Heart disease is the leading cause of death among North Americans — a silent, stealthy killer that many people don't know they have until it's too late. The good news is that heart conditions can be detected, controlled, and even prevented by taking sensible precautionary measures.

Wellness Factors' Heart Health program is designed to help employees and their families avoid heart disease by promoting lifestyle choices that limit or reduce their susceptibility to its main risk factors: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, stress, smoking, excessive drinking, physical inactivity, and obesity. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that employers who implement worksite programs to prevent heart disease can reduce health-care costs by up to 55 per cent and increase productivity by as much as 52 per cent.

The Heart Health program begins with a campaign to garner maximum employee participation. Activities include on-site measuring and comparative tracking of blood fats, blood pressure, and heart rate, as well as lifestyle practices for heart health.

Wellness Factors' Wellness Director will work with the employer from start to full implementation of the corporate program over the following stages:

  • Launching the awareness campaign
  • Receiving and installing the wall posters and booklets stands 
  • Scheduling guest speakers to conduct lunch & learns
  • Mailing a copy of the Heart Health program to employees' homes (optional)
  • Designating and training an employee to do blood-cholesterol testing, receive a blood-cholesterol monitor, and allocate two hours per week for testing 500 people
  • Training employees to enter blood-cholesterol readings into the confidential Health Tracker
  • Identifying employees who are at risk of heart disease or displaying symptoms of heart disease
  • Encouraging employees who are at risk of heart disease or displaying symptoms of heart disease to visit a health-care professional, work with a health coach in making lifestyle changes, and engage in consistent self-care with the tools and resources on their corporate health portal
  • Identifying wellness program return on investment through Web-based aggregate reporting 
  • Coaching on how to access and benefit from the comprehensive education on heart disease and self-care provided in Wellness Factors' corporate health portal