Staff Member Health Testing.

The backbone of wellness programming at the worksite is health screening. It’s the first major activity a corporation should do when first starting a wellness program.

Biometric testing is often used in conjunction with the administration of a Health Risk Assessment (HRA) .

The most effective way to screen is to utilize a health specialist trained in wellness screening techniques and counseling to privately and individually assess participants.

This wellness professional takes a brief health history and measures blood pressure (BP) and cholesterol. With computerized cholesterol desktop analyzers, results are obtained in about four minutes.

Immediate feedback, consultation, and educational materials are provided. for those identified at-risk, follow-up appointments could be scheduled at this time.  The whole process takes about twenty minutes per individual.

The screening also provides an immediate opportunity to register participants in various health promotion programs based on their interests and identified health risks.

Biometric testing could be done on an annual basis and used as a means of monitoring health risks within the worksite.

A health testing program needs to provide multiple opportunities for participation.  The service must be provided for all the various shifts of a organization.  The screening program must be conducted in highly visible areas so the process may be observed.

Reluctant staff often like to be able to see what the wellness program is about before they participate. When wellness screeners are not busy, they ought to perform outreach going to areas where staff gather and attempt to recruit staff.

When well-planned and promoted, health testing can attract participation rates of 60 percent to 100 percent. These high participation rates have a positive impact on senior management producing support for further wellness programming.