For many, many years I coordinated and orchestrated health screenings for all students and employees at Ashland University. It started with providing this opportunity to students and then the employees were able to reap benefits too. (each embedded link provides information separately about students and then employees)
Students
For the students, health screenings were part of a required core wellness class. About 99% of students do not know their lipid profile numbers and with the growing number of Americans with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease, knowing your numbers is really important.
- This was so important that I even published a peer-reviewed article about it’s importance.
- It’s initiative and preventative programming even earned state recognition at the Ohio Statehouse among other health and wellness initiatives at university’s in Ohio.
- And Dr. Michael Roizen, Chief Wellness Officer of the Cleveland Clinic, even went out of his way to praise our efforts.
At first we partnered with the students health center, and then we partnered with nursing faculty to complete the initiative. We eventually kept everything in house for low costs.
However even though majority of students had normal results, there were students who found out they had Type 1 OR Type 2 diabetes due to taking this class. Others found out about elevated high cholesterol, or learning how lifestyle modifications can adjust their LDL’s or HDL’s for long term benefits. #studentselfdisclosure
Employees
The benefits were also prevalent for employees too. However the majority of these adults knew their results and used the screening as a follow up to their lifestyle choices. We easily had over 100 employees participate in this event with success.
It’s with programming like this where we can collaboratively work together to collectively improve our health. I love coordinating programs such as these.