Contact: Theresa Islo
Director of Operations
(Milwaukee, WI)—The Wellness Council of Wisconsin held its 21st Annual Worksite Wellness Conference, The Economics of Healthy Behaviors, on September 14, 2011, at the KI Convention Center, Green Bay, with attendance of 500 business, health, and wellness professionals with 42 exhibitors and sponsors including presenting sponsor, Prevea Health. The program began with Dr. David Katz presenting, “Feet, Forks, and the Fate of Our Families”. Dr. Katz is the founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, founder of the nonprofit Turn the Tide Foundation, and principal inventor of the Overall Nutritional Quality Index utilized in the NuVal nutrition guidance program currently offered in over 1,000 supermarkets throughout the United States. He spoke about the plight of our nation facing an obesity crisis of epic proportions and the implications this has for the health of both the adult population in our society and that of our children. He went on to describe the promise, solutions to stem this crisis of public health, pointing out things like healthydiningfinder.com, a website that provides locations of healthier restaurant options, school cafeterias that are being redesigned with healthier foods, an increasing prevalence of physical activity breaks in worksites and First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative.
John Torinus Jr., chairman of Serigraph and author of “The Company That Solved Health Care: How Serigraph Dramatically Reduced Skyrocketing Costs while Providing Better Care, and How Every Company Can Do the Same” presented the luncheon keynote. He shared the challenges and success Serigraph has realized through an innovative health care plan that engages employees and providers in a new paradigm. All attendees received a copy of the book compliments of Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield.
Skill building sessions were offered in addition to the keynotes. Attendees chose from sessions addressing the latest trends from leveraging social media to data-driven wellness, financial wellness, alternative care models and more presented by national experts such as Dr. Paul Terry, CEO of Staywell Health Management along with local and regional industry leaders.
“This event has been the largest worksite wellness-focused conference in the Midwest for many years. We bring together a highly engaged group of thought leaders from a wide variety of organizations, representing both the public and private sectors,” according to Jessica Raddemann, executive director of the Wellness Council. The 22nd Annual Worksite Wellness Conference is scheduled for September 26, 2012, at the Frontier Airlines Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Wellness Council of Wisconsin was founded in 1985 by the Wisconsin business community. Membership has grown from 9 founding companies to over 425 organizations representing 430,000 employees. In addition, Wisconsin now has 65 Well Workplace Award winners and four active Well City projects.
The Wellness Council is also the local affiliate of the Wellness Council of America (WELCOA). With more than 4000+ member organizations located throughout North America, WELCOA is highly recognized and regarded for their innovative and results-oriented approach to worksite wellness.
