Wellness program helps keep employees fit

EL CAJON –Grossmont College is providing employees with opportunities and resources to improve their health through fitness classes, access to wellness resources, and workshops on healthful life styles.

During the just-concluded summer session, for example, faculty and staff members during lunch breaks and after regular working hours exercised at Yoga, Zumba, swimming laps and walking.  The idea was not only to improve their physical fitness but also to reduce their work stress, said Sharon Vilarino, an Exercise Science and Wellness (ESW) instructor who coordinates the program.

“We want to promote wellness both in the course of the employees’ daily living and within the workplace,” Vilarino said.  Recently, Vilarino demonstrated standing and sitting exercises that can be done in a person’s office.  She was a featured presenter at a convocation held earlier this month for classified staff.

“As wellness coordinator, I have gone across campus handing out flyers, and I’m always struck by the fact that a lot of our faculty sit many hours grading papers and preparing lectures,” Vilarino said.  “Classified staff members too, often spend many hours looking at computer screens.   That much sitting can be hard on the body, so we try to show employees some of the things that they can do to help themselves during the day. For example, we encourage taking a five-minute stretch break, getting out on the campus and walking, or attending exercise classes that are free for Grossmont College employees.”

Vilarino is an adjunct instructor of exercise science. Additionally, she has performed athletic training duties for the X Games and Gravity Games and worked with orthopedic surgeons in clinic for several years.  She always has been a sports enthusiast. In high school she played volleyball, softball and basketball, switching during undergraduate studies at San Diego State University and masters studies at Adam State University in Colorado to more individualized sports such as martial arts, cycling and swimming. 

Over the summer session, in cooperation with California Schools Voluntary Employee Benefits Association (VEBA), the Wellness Program began with a health assessment (biometric) session measuring employees’ weight, height, blood pressure, resting heart rate, lung capacity, body fat and body age, with employees able to discuss their results and set wellness goals.  Forty four staff and faculty participated.

The program also held an easy Summer Wellness Scavenger Hunt that encouraged participants to get out and try new activities, such as finding a new hiking trail or walking to a new restaurant in their neighborhoods.  As an incentive for participating in the health screening or scavenger hunt, employees received an entry into a raffle for a $50 gift card.

The summer session also saw an average of 17 persons per class participate in Zumba (an aerobic exercise/ dance routine) and Yoga, and 10 persons per class in lap swimming.  All three classes met twice a week.

In the upcoming Fall Semester, Vilarino said, free employee fitness classes will be available. Zumba classes will be offered to employees Mondays and Wednesdays at 5:15 p.m.;  lap swimming on Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Fridays from 12 noon to 1 p.m.; and Yoga at 12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays.

Beginning the last week of September, she said, there will be an eight-week walking challenge for which participants can sign up to get a pedometer. She said “we have created some walking paths on campus, and if people would like to access them, they can.  We’d like to encourage them to be more active during their day and encourage activity on their breaks.  They will log their steps and there will be giveaways throughout the challenge.”  She said the eight-week session was scheduled so as to conclude before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Another wellness opportunity for employees will be workshops on plantar fasciitis, a very painful foot condition that limits activities of daily living and physical activity.”  EWS Laura Sim will lead the workshop.  “She’s a marathoner and has personal experience with this condition. Having researched the topic she has great advice and practical treatments that will help people get moving pain free a lot sooner. She is passionate about the subject,” said Vilarino.

Other workshops will deal with healthy holiday eating; helping caregivers to alleviate stress; and post-employment health benefits for retirees. 

“Wellness is not just physical,” Vilarino advises.  “A lot of things make up wellness, including intellectual, social, spiritual, occupational, emotional, and yes, physical, activities.  The Wellness Initiative at Grossmont College is intended to help employees in all these areas.”

-DHH-