[ noun ] a healthy state of wellbeing free from disease <noun.state> physicians should be held responsible for the health of their patients
Quaker Oats Co. runs wellness and prenatal classes.
"This is a new community that looks at wellness as a life style need." The new planned communities put higher value on open space, an increasingly marketable amenity as people flee cluttered suburbs.
"The way you change the health of the whole population is to get the whole population to make small changes in a lot of areas," says Curtis S. Wilbur, a Johnson & Johnson executive who helped write a study on the wellness program.
"I have a longstanding interest in physical training and wellness, and my support of the University of Florida will boost the research of lower back pain, one of man's most nagging problems," Jones said.
He said about 50 people participated in the program designed to promote "wellness." "Massage therapy is a widely accepted treatment modality" for alcoholism, he said.
Some employers focus their wellness efforts on older employees because retirees often move to places where it is difficult to monitor their health or influence their behavior.
But some firms question the value of wellness efforts, contending that workers job hop so often that employers who invest in long-term health won't reap the benefits.
People who spent two years trying to lower their weight, fat, cholesterol, and blood pressure celebrated the end of the wellness program on Saturday with a healthy brunch.
About 66% of sites with at least 50 workers now have wellness programs, says the Prevention Leadership Forum, a joint effort of a private Washington, D.C., health group and the government.
But there is evidence of growing labor support for work-site wellness programs that union representatives have helped to design and implement.
"With the shift from hospital to the home and emphasis on prevention and wellness, we should be more important, not less," says Ms. Kelleher.