KP Earns Silver Recognition From American Heart Association

Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest integrated health system, announced it has received the 2016 silver level recognition in the American Heart Association’s (AHA) inaugural Workplace Health Achievement Index, a science-based and evidence-informed measurement that assesses and recognizes workplace health programs. Initiated by the AHA’s CEO Roundtable, the index provides employers with best practices to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of workplace health programs.

“In providing high quality patient care to our community, we must value health and wellness among our workforce,” said Nor Jemjemian, senior vice president and area manager for Kaiser Permanente’s Napa Solano Area. “We are proud of our staff for participating in health measures that promote and model wellness to our communities.”

As we observe American Heart Month in February, Kaiser Permanente’s robust efforts to improve heart health, lower hypertension, and improve cardiovascular fitness for its more than 220,000 employees and physicians are particularly relevant. Highlights of these efforts include:

• More than 58,000 Kaiser Permanente employees have participated in the AHA’s annual Heart Walks since 2006, raising $4.3 million at 42 walk locations around the U.S.
• The creation in 2015 of Go KP, the online workforce wellness program for all Kaiser Permanente employees that provides tips and tools, motivation, and social features to help employees get fit and stay healthy.
• Pre-recorded webinars on topics like “Weight Loss for Busy People,” “Trendy Foods, Trendy Diets” and “Whole Food Plant-Based Eating.”
• Access to wellness coaching to develop strategies for reducing stress, becoming more active, managing weight or quitting tobacco use – a tool that a recent Kaiser Permanente study showed can aid significant weight loss.

Kaiser Permanente’s Napa Solano Area, is focused on creating engaging programs that keep employees, staff and physicians healthy. Weekly farmers markets at the Vacaville and Vallejo Medical Centers allow easy access to heart-healthy produce. Exercise and meditation classes help employees carve out time for fitness. And family events, like the Family Wellness Hike led by a local physician, bring home the message that healthy living can be a family affair.

The AHA’s Workplace Health Achievement Index scores and recognizes companies based both on the structure of the workplace health program and employees’ heart health based on the AHA’s seven behaviors and metrics for ideal heart health (smoking, body mass index, physical activity, diet, total cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose). People who achieve ideal cardiovascular health by age 50 have significantly lower lifetime risk of heart disease and stroke, and live, on average, approximately 10 years longer than people with two or more risk factors.

For more information about improving heart health, find Kaiser Permanente resources online.