More than 140 health care professionals attended the 3rd annual HASC Health Care Provider Wellness Conference to explore wellness and benefits programs that work to alleviate the costs of health care and combat the effects of poor health on productivity, job satisfaction and care quality.

Themed “Wellness, Work & Community: Strategies for Sustainable Cultural Change,” the conference attracted c-suite and frontline staff from health care facilities in California, Louisiana, Iowa, Alaska, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Washington and Canada.

Topics included generational differences on behavior change; patterns of employee engagement; the value of fully integrating wellness programs into an organization; pragmatic applications of key population health metrics; the science around diet and obesity; successful wellness programs from the Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente; healthy aging; and health care worker fatigue.

A unique aspect of the conference is the incorporation of physical activities that engage attendees and demonstrate the value of exercise. Mission Valley YMCA led the Zumba Fitness activity that opened the event and the run/walk around the city on the final morning of the conference.

Melanie Cumbee of MemorialCare provided an afternoon activity that got everyone involved in four fitness stations—hula hoop, balancing with Frisbees, tossing beach balls and working with stretch bands—demonstrating quick, nontraditional activities attendees can use at the worksite.

And in what is becoming an event tradition, organizers hosted a dinner at a local restaurant for conference attendees where they enjoyed tapas and Salsa lessons.

“What impressed me most about this conference was the degree of networking that I witnessed,” said Hamilton Mears, Wellness Plan Administrator for Scripps Health. “I am convinced that a great deal of new collaboration will emerge as a result of the conference. By the end of the conference I got the sense that the audience had become a single community, collectively resolved to tackle some big problems.”

Thank you, sponsors, for your generous support of this event. The 4th annual Health Care Provider Wellness Conference will be held June 12-13, 2014, in Anaheim, Calif. Please reserve the date and visit www.hasc.org/2014WellnessConference.

Contact: Teri Hollingsworth
(213) 538-0763, thollingsworth@hasc.org