Did you know that today’s elementary school students will be the first generation that is not predicted to live longer than their parents? This is one of the startling facts that came forward in a presentation Monday afternoon for Riverside County employees.

The Wellness Program Comes to the Desert… Riverside County is in the forefront of programs to promote healthy living for its employees.  This is due in large part to the focus Dave Williams, MD, MPH, the Wellness Coordinator, brings to the job.  Conventional medicine teaches how to diagnose and treat diseases, whereas, Dr. Williams concentrates on wellness and looks at the whole person not just the disease. 

Dr. Williams addressed a cross section of County employees from various offices in the Desert, yesterday at the Monroe Building Conference Center in Indio.  He was accompanied by the Health Educator who works with the program, Eileen Ferrer.  In his explanation of why we have a wellness program he played an excerpt from, “Honey we are killing the kids” which had aired on the Health Channel.

There is a long list of program features, the two that I find very unique for any employer to sponsor are:  Worksite "House Calls" or "Visits"  - Staff from the wellness program will provide worksite visits for employees (by request) that would involve health assessments and tips on what can be done to improve health from a lifestyle perspective; and One-on-One Consultation - For employees who have multiple health risks, the Wellness Program offers comprehensive physician counseling including care, disease and case management, one-on-one lifestyle consultation, as well as ongoing monthly group visits.  You tell me, does your employer do this? 

From my research it looks like Riverside County’s Wellness Program represents the new face of employment medicine.  The only negative side to this, that I can see, is that it will probably take a decade for other major employers to catch up and routinely provide this type of employee support.