Why Employers Should Leverage Heart Health Month
[+3 easy ways to get your employees to take part in Heart Health Month]
February is American Heart Month. Not only is February a perfect time to express our Valentine’s love friends, family and co-workers, but, perhaps more importantly, it’s an opportunity to express our concern for their heart health.
[Heart disease leads to an average of 13 lost workdays per year per employee.]
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the U.S.; in fact, 1 in 4 deaths are attributed to heart disease. That’s the bad news.
The good news—heart disease is often preventable.
[High Blood Pressure raises and employee’s healthcare costs by nearly one third.]
February provides us an opportunity to re-educate ourselves and our employees on the importance of a healthy heart and to incorporate easy and effective ways to implement heart-healthy habits into your work culture.
[Employees with a cardiovascular disease costs $1,11 more per year in insurance.]
Below are 3 easy ways to get your employees to take part in Heart Health Month:
- Wear Red. Encourage your employees to wear red on National Wear Red Day (February 7, 2020). National Wear Red Day is celebrated each year on the first Friday in February to bring attention to heart disease. To access NIH’s free poster, stickers and social media resources to promote Wear Red Day at your worksite, click here: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/education-and-awareness/heart-month/wear-red-day
- Eat Healthy for The Big Game. Send your employees a copy of FIT2order's eCookbook which includes heart-healthy recipes.
Desk to Dinner Table eCookBook
- Encourage Employees to Move with Heart. Share the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s video #movewithheart and follow-up with the below work breaks to get your employees to #movewithheart DURING the work day.
Click here for the video: https://health.gov/news/blog-bayw/2018/02/movewithheart-american-heart-month/
Click here for more information about work breaks to move more and stress less during the work day.
For more heart health tips and information, follow FIT2order on social media throughout the month of February.
SOURCES:
- American Heart Association Website. Accessed January 21, 2020. https://www.heart.org/idc/groups/heart-public/@wcm/@fc/documents/downloadable/ucm_496180.pdf
- National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Wear Red Day. Accessed January 21, 2020. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/education-and-awareness/heart-month/wear-red-day
