A Healthy Dialogue: A 5K and a Commitment to Better Health ? a ...

I spent part of Father?s Day running at the 25th annual GBMC Father?s Day 5K. It was a great day and I was fortunate to have my wife Tracey, and my daughter, Caroline, running, too. Caroline was being polite and running with me but I encouraged her to go on ahead at her own pace. Tracey finished third in her age bracket. I was happy to finish without an injury.

This important event has been helping to raise much needed funds for GBMC?s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Over the years, funds raised through this event have helped purchase lifesaving technology and services for our NICU babies and their families. I thank everyone who ran or walked and participated in this great day, including one 25-year supporter of the event, Robert Hlavac, who has been participating in the Father?s Day 5K since its inception.

I also had the opportunity to meet with the kids from the West Towson Elementary?School PlayFit program. As I talked about in the May 21st blog, GBMC partnered with the school to develop an after school fitness program called PlayFit, designed to help kids at risk for childhood obesity. The ?Westy?s,? along with our GBMC volunteers, have done a fabulous job staying active while having fun. The culmination of this six-week fitness program was having the kids run in our Father?s Day 5K event or do the one mile walk. ?These kids were so proud of what they had accomplished, as were we, and GBMC looks forward to continuing this beneficial fitness program with the Westy?s going forward. Great work, kids!

As we realized with our work with the kids from West Towson Elementary School, prevention of disease is vital to the future health of our community. ?As a system of care, GBMC continues to take important steps toward enacting healthy change. We recently took another step toward this mission of preventative care by introducing a new Employee Wellness program.

The U.S. health care system is struggling to care for the ever-increasing number of people with chronic disease like obesity and diabetes. While we at GBMC are building a better coordinated system to care for chronic disease, we also need to work to prevent these diseases in the first place and what better place to start than with our own GBMC family members. This is why GBMC is adopting a healthcare insurance model that promotes wellness and emphasizes maintaining good health. Through this new wellness program, we are helping our staff focus on staying healthy by providing opportunities for employees to engage in various wellness activities while earning incentives for their efforts. This moves us another step closer to changing the mindset of, ?go to the doctor when you?re sick,? to ?keep yourself healthy so you don?t get sick.?

GBMC employees and staff who participate in the Platinum health plan will be able to take advantage of this important wellness program as well as savings on healthcare premiums by participating in a biometric screening process and registering with our wellness partner, Allegeant. Employees interested in the screening process should visit the InfoWeb?for all of the details and upcoming deadlines for participating or call Allegeant at 410-605-0007.

Those employees who participate are making the effort to maintain their good health and minimize days of illness. This program is all part of GBMC?s commitment to better health.

Schools are out for the summer now and the longer, hotter days are a perfect time for all of us to get outdoors and stay active and healthy.

Source: http://ahealthydialogue.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-5k-and-commitment-to-better-health.html

Julian Castro Blue Moon August 2012 Eddie Murphy Dead Democratic National Convention 2012 myocardial infarction What Is Labor Day jersey shore