| RELATED INFO |
| * WIRED |
| * Purdue School of Nursing |
| * Healthcare TAP |
| * Department of Health and Kinesiology |
February 28, 2008
Purdue pilots healthy work force initiative
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -
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WIRED, or Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development, is working with Purdue's School of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, Department of Health and Kinesiology, and Healthcare Technical Assistance Program to identify which programs lead to improvements in employee health and the control of health-care costs.
"The rising cost of providing health care is a major concern for our local manufacturers," said Allison Bryan, Healthy Workforce Project manager. "There are some tools that have proven to hold steady or even reduce the premiums manufacturing companies have to pay to provide insurance to their employees. We want to identify which training programs work best and help manufacturers put those programs in place."
As many as 750 employees at 12 companies are expected to participate in the 12-month program, which will begin in March. Potential topics to be addressed include wise use of the health-care system, self-care, everyday exercise, weight management, smoking cessation, ergonomics, nutrition, heart health and stress management.
"We will start by analyzing company data, including health-care claims, prescription drug use, worker's compensation claims, safety logs and absenteeism rates, to perform a needs assessment," Bryan said. "Then, from April through October, the Healthy Workforce team will implement customized trainings onsite. Finally, in December and January of 2009, we will reassess the company data to see which areas have improved."
Scott Hutcheson, Purdue Center for Regional Development senior associate, said the Healthy Workforce Project serves as a new model of work force development that can provide immediate benefits for employees and workers.
"This program creates workers who are health care literate," Hutcheson said. "They will have a new set of skills to help them be better consumers of health care and more productive employees. This is a new, high-value skill set that employers are beginning to demand."
Indiana WIRED is a federal economic and work force development initiative administered by Purdue. It is designed to energize the nation's economy through regional economic development partnerships and work force education and training.
In 2006 the U.S. Department of Labor awarded $15 million each to 13 WIRED regions in the United States, including a grant to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. The grant covers a 14-county Indiana region, which includes Benton, Carroll, Cass, Clinton, Fountain, Fulton, Howard, Miami, Montgomery, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Wabash, Warren and White counties.
Writer: Marydell Forbes, (765) 496-7704, mforbes@purdue.edu
Sources: Allison Bryan, (765) 496-9791, abryan@purdue.edu
Scott Hutcheson, (765) 494-7273, hutcheson@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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