HEALTH: WELLNESS PROGRAMS
By Frank H. Wooldridge
As a law enforcement officer, I share what I believe many of us in the profession want when it comes to understanding the impact of how health insurance premium increases impact us. We want just the facts. Well, I would venture to say that same ideology transcends to other safety occupations. With this in mind, it is not only important to get the facts, but also to learn options to become proactive in countering health insurance premium increases. 
What each and every one of us need to know and understand is not only are health insurance premium increases a fact of life, if you choose to do nothing, you are going to be increasingly responsible for paying them. Unfortunately, paying for increased health insurance premiums is just the beginning.
The Hidden Spike: All public employees are leaving themselves at the mercy of those who are responsible for adjusting increases if they do not take a proactive approach. In some municipalities, retirees may even experience a greater financial fate to their already strapped fixed retirement pension. These former dedicated employees are often most vulnerable if they become separated from the governmental bargaining unit and are left to fend on their own in the face of certain health insurance premium increases. They can be left with little or no alternative for health care.  
As health insurance premiums increase, the expense from municipal coffers increases. Employees will be the first asked to make up the difference. If we have done nothing to prepare, we only have ourselves to blame and we will pay in more ways than just our pocketbook. Unless employee collective bargaining units and municipal negotiation teams come to terms during tough negotiation times, there can be a number of other potential consequences, whether a budget deficit is real or imagined. 
Current national and state economic conditions have not done anything to brighten the outlook. These dismal markets negatively affect jobs, property tax values, and sales tax revenues. They will eventually impact services and may serve as a major distraction during times of collective bargaining. Management and employee groups must come together to seek affordable and sensible solutions. 
A Proactive Approach: One proactive approach is wellness programs, which consist of comprehensive health, fitness, and safety initiatives. I conducted research of California law enforcement agencies and reviewed national studies of the benefits of the implementation of wellness programs for law enforcement agencies. The results were clear. Wellness programs are in demand and reveal promise of countering financial stress placed upon municipal budgets due to health insurance premium cost hikes for participating government and private businesses. 
What I learned through my research is there is a myriad of ideas about what a wellness program should look like. It is not the intention of this article to provide detailed tasks regarding how the program will be carried out, nor are there preferences as to what components or manner would make for a successful program for your agency. The fact is there are many variables that can be inserted into any wellness program. It is the intention of this article to inform managers and employees of the benefit of such programs and the broad availability of services to assist and train your agency’s management and personnel in developing a successful wellness program. 
Of course, another major aspect which determines success of your agency’s wellness program is the support and commitment of the agency’s administration. This level of support is a must. The administration’s support and encouragement of employee’s participation in the program will give the program added value and will have huge benefits in prolonging the program and help it to grow.
Program Definition and Need: In the design of a proper wellness program for an agency, it is important to understand just exactly what a wellness program is. It can be defined as the promotion of health, safety, and fitness through education and lifestyle transformation. For example, heart disease is directly related to lifestyle wellness behaviors. It has become the number one killer of adult men and women, surpassing all types of cancer. 
Most law enforcement training academies assign significant amounts of energy to fitness related activities. Training academies normally include fitness activities such as push-ups, sit-ups and running. These activities only constitute a portion of what a wellness program can be.  
Consider the following statistics: We, as police officers, live an average of 15 years less than the average American. Nearly 50 percent of us will die from heart disease within five years of retirement. Statistically, we are 25 times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease (CVD) than from the action of a suspect.  
Well managed wellness programs, of which there are relatively few, are geared mainly toward providing information and activities on health, fitness, and safety to employees. These areas provide a wide range of training material and the training should be ongoing.
It is my recommendation that one of the first steps toward transforming behavior and increasing adherence of employees to participate in the wellness program is to increase their individual knowledge. Employees should initially be provided with relevant classroom presentations and demonstrations, and they should participate in practical exercises. Each training session should be designed to illustrate the importance, relationship, and relevance of fitness for all personnel. 
Correlations between physical skills and heart rate, endurance and strength versus defensive tactics, and flexibility versus back injury prevention are critical concerns for instruction. Presentations should also emphasize wellness topics including proper nutrition, high risk behavior related to heart disease and diabetes among employees, substance abuse, stress, obesity, injury prevention, and smoking cessation, just to name a few.  
Program Justification: The justification for the wellness program can be validated based upon numerous best practices studies that have been researched by public and private organizations. The following lists major benefits from installing a wellness program:
Lowering Health Insurance Premiums: Wellness programs have been shown to be the best practices, less financially painful method of suppressing rising health insurance premiums.  
Reduced Absenteeism: This is another area that has shown a marked impact from the implementation of wellness programs, due to healthier employees and less injuries.
Reduced Employee Turnover Rates: This is also a major category which has shown substantial positive change. Employees are more likely to have an improved total outlook towards their careers and the contribution they are making to the agency/community.  
In addition to the benefits mentioned, wellness programs include: Providing healthy lifestyles; increasing worker productivity; increasing high performance team building; promoting personal leadership and accountability; and reduction in worker’s compensation claims.
Also, injury reduction; employee recruitment; improved morale; improved employee physical appearance; improved organizational image and effectiveness; and reduction of litigation claims for excessive force against police officers.
Measuring Success: It is reasonable for the agency to justify the wellness program by promoting an interest within all personnel to participate in the wellness program to become more healthy and fit. The ultimate result of the wellness program should be an improved agency, with employees who are healthier, personally more secure, and better able to provide effective services. If the wellness program saves the organization money in the long run, that is an added plus. 
Wellness programs can be measured in several ways. With the use of control groups, comparing measurements before and after the program, and repeating measurements, employees will decide when and how often they will evaluate. Evaluation can show evidence of change following the program.     
It is my opinion the development of a wellness program will not remain static. As time moves on, the program will require modification due to employee’s requests for special services, programs, and needs. 
This is not an unsatisfactory result. Actually, it is an excellent sign of the interest in the program and the employee’s involvement in structuring the program. As employee needs are satisfied, more employees will take an active interest, become participants, and ultimately influence a reduction of health insurance premiums.   
About the author: Frank H. Wooldridge is a detective with the Bakersfield Police Department. He is the designer of Master Wellness Program Training, which provides a framework for designing wellness programs. He can be reached at his website www.masterwellnesstraining.com.