WASHINGTON – Partnership for Prevention joined the U.S. Workplace Wellness Alliance (USWWA) on Capitol Hill today to celebrate the first-ever observance of “National Workplace Wellness Week.”  They were joined at a press conference at the Capitol Visitors Center by four members of Congress – Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA)and John Cornyn (R-TX), and Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Mary Bono-Mack (R-CA), in re-introducing the “Healthy Workforce Act.”

Congress last fall declared the first full week of April as “National Workplace Wellness Week” to help “recognize the importance of workplace wellness as a strategy to maximize employee’s health and well-being.” Partnership for Prevention provided technical support in drafting the resolution and worked with Reps. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D-SD) and Charles Boustany Jr. (R-LA) and the USWWA to introduce it in Congress.

Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-LA) was one of the original sponsors of the legislation that established National Workplace Wellness Week. We interviewed him for an episode of our "Prevention Matters" podcast, which you can listen to by clicking here.

Streaming video of the April 2 press conference can be viewed below.

For more information, visit the Alliance website at http://www.uswwa.org.

Featured in this first of five streaming videos are welcoming remarks by Garry Lindsay of Partnership for Prevention and Sue Nelson of the American Heart Association.

Part 2
Remarks by U.S. Senators Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Part 3
Remarks by U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) and Mary Bono Mack (R-California).

Part 4
Remarks by Janet Boyd of The Dow Chemical Company, Michael Barry of the American College of Preventive Medicine, Craig Thorne MD of Erickson Retirement Communities, Randel Johnson of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Candace DeMatteis of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease.

Part 5
Closing remarks by Garry Lindsay of Partnership for Prevention.

Resources

1. "The Burden of Chronic Disease on Business and U.S. Competitiveness," excerpt from Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease's 2009 Almanac of Chronic Disease

2. Leading by Example: Leading Practices in Employee Health Management

3. Investing in Health: Evidence-Based Health Promotion Practices for the Workplace: Provides employers with guidance for establishing health promotion practices in the workplace. These practices improve employee health by controlling tobacco use, promoting cancer screening and early detection, and encouraging physical activity and healthy eating.

4. Why Invest? Recommendations for Improving Your Prevention Investment: A report offering an overview of the results of a national survey on employer coverage for clinical preventive services, and comparing the results to key findings from Partnership's most recent rankings of recommended preventive services. The report also includes examples from organizations investing in preventive services for their employees and recommendations to employers for increasing the coverage and use of preventive services.

5. Healthy Workforce 2010: An Essential Health Promotion Sourcebook for Employers, Large and Small: Strategies and rationale for investing in worksite health promotion.