Your Plan for Health, Wellness Program to Merge
After serving the university community for more than a decade, the services and programming of the Faculty and Staff Wellness Program will be merging under Your Plan for Health (YP4H).
All of the popular programming and services, such as the Lunch and Learn workshop series, biometric health screenings, flu shots, and the annual Rally for Wellness! Health Fair now will be offered under the YP4H name to improve recognition and reinforce how these resources support the university’s four-year-old initiative. The staff and administrative functions of Wellness programming won’t be changing.
“We were hearing a disconnect between what Your Plan for Health offers and what the Wellness Program offers, and confusion about how those services were related,” said Pam Doseck, director of Benefits in the Office of Human Resources.
For instance, the biometric health screening—which provides health values that can be used to complete the Personal Health Assessment (PHA)—is conducted through the Wellness Program, but the PHA is part of YP4H. Likewise, flu shots and Lunch and Learn workshops—offered by Wellness—earn points in the Incentive Program—administered by YP4H.
“Our goal is for faculty and staff to understand that the wellness activities are foundational to the concept of Your Plan for Health, so we want them to find all their favorite programs and resources in one place: under the Your Plan for Health umbrella,” Doseck said.
Gone, however, is the purple “W” so many people identified with the Wellness Program over the years. To celebrate the merger, a transitional logo to commemorate the role the Wellness Program played in building YP4H will be in place for the next few quarters.
YP4H began in 2006 as a collaboration between Human Resources, the OSU Health Plan (formerly Managed Health Care Systems), and the OSU Medical Center. “It was just a matter of time before the foundation established by the Wellness Program would be folded back in,” said Marianne Robinson, Wellness Program manager who is credited with growing the program into a state-recognized initiative. In 2005, the program won the Governor’s Central Region Healthy Ohioans Business Council Award, and, in 2007, Robinson was honored with the university’s Distinguished Staff Award as a tribute to her workplace wellness advocacy.
Vice President for Human Resources Larry Lewellen was a champion of the original Wellness Program, just as he was for YP4H. Stephanie Cook, MD, medical director of the Wellness Program, also was among the Wellness founders and continues to oversee the clinical aspects of the program.
“The founding mission of our Wellness Program propelled a revolution in workplace wellness,” said Scott Streator, CEO and executive director of the OSU Health Plan, which provides wellness services to the university. “What started out as a benefit for Ohio State employees many years ago has evolved into an initiative that can have a favorable impact on the university’s health care bottom line.”
The branding transition of the Wellness web site and programming will occur over the next few months. Visit osuhealthplan.com/members/wellness for event scheduling and registration.