By Laura Elder
The Daily News
Published February 08, 2004

Read the original story

A year ago, Julia Barragan, 26, weighed 220 pounds and spent most of her lunch breaks at home, preparing large meals. Portion control wasn’t her strong point, she said.

“I’d go home and make a huge meal like chicken, mashed potatoes and salad and do the same thing for dinner,” said Barragan, a program coordinator for geriatric services at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

The extra pounds were slowing her down at work, she said. “I knew I wasn’t as productive as I could be,” she said. “I would just be tired.”

Now Barragan, who is 45 pounds lighter, has traded her large lunches at home for sensible meals and the company of co-workers who also are trying to get a handle on their weight.

She credits her success and increased energy at work to Weight Watchers meetings and exercise programs — all available to her at the office.

From UTMB to Texas City Independent School District to Boeing NASA Systems in Webster, workplace health initiatives and weight loss programs are a trend as companies try to put their arms around what local and national government officials have called an obesity epidemic.

Personal or Personnel?
While some might consider obesity or just being a little overweight a personal issue, employers see it as a personnel issue and one that affects morale, productivity and health care costs.

Overweight workers can be costlier than smokers, say some experts. Obesity costs U.S. companies an estimated $13 billion a year. The largest slice of that goes to health insurance at $8 billion, followed by paid sick leave at $2.4 billion, life insurance at $1.8 billion and disability insurance at $1 billion, according to recent study in the American Journal of Health Promotion.

More than 120 million — or 65 percent — of U.S. adults are considered either overweight or obese, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The figure has nearly doubled in the last decade.

“If an individual is sedentary, they’re going to tire more than someone who is healthier and more invigorated,” said Gerald Cleveland, director of health promotion at UTMB. “Just from a productivity standpoint, being overweight or obese has a huge impact on how much actual work can get done or get completed over a course of the day.”

"Tremendous Toll"
In Texas, where surveys show that more than 61 percent of adults and 35 percent of Texas school-aged children are considered overweight, the problem is growing, said Dr. Mark Guidry, executive director for the Galveston County Health District.

So big is the obesity problem that the district earlier this month urged families, communities and public and private entities to address the issue.

“The growing numbers of people living with obesity exacts a tremendous toll on the overall health system,” Guidry said. “Being overweight or obese is a risk factor for health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension and gallbladder disease.”

At UTMB’s Sealy Center on Aging and Geriatric Services, where managers have launched a departmentwide health initiative that includes exercise along with weight loss programs, the payoffs are evident.

Launched nearly a year ago, the program has included everything from providing employees with a health educator and exercise physiologist for consultation and motivation, monthly brown bag lunch meetings covering a variety of health topics and “salad only” guidelines for any lunches catered by the department.

Lessening Sick Time
The health initiative is credited with a drastic reduction in the number of sick days employees use, said Jenny Lanier, manager of business operations for geriatric services.

Of the 140 employees in geriatric services, 72 have participated in the department’s health initiative. After nine months — from January to September last year — Lanier compared sick leave taken by those participating in healthy activities and those who weren’t.

Her findings? Those who participated in the initiative called in sick 80 percent less than those not participating. “Before, some of them had the highest call-in rates,” Lanier said. “The health initiative is motivating and creates a better work atmosphere.”

At Texas City Independent School District, employees are offered incentives to participate in healthy programs, said spokesman Stephen Hadley, who has since left the district.

Walking For Dollars
The week before school starts, the district organizes a health fair where employees can get screenings.

If an employee attends the health fair each August, the school district puts $100 in their savings account. If the employee misses five or fewer days each academic year, the district puts $300 in their savings account. And if they walk for 30 minutes, three times a week, for 75 percent of the weeks in a school year, they get $200 — for a total of $600 in healthy incentives.

To participate, employees must be with the district for three years. Some employees also attend Weight Watchers on campus, but the district does not subsidize that program.

Still, access to such programs at work is convenient for employees, Hadley said. “They’re already there and don’t have go anywhere late at night,” he said.

At Boeing NASA Systems in Webster, company officials are working to curb escalating health care costs with a long list of programs.

Boeing spends $2 billion each year on health care for employees, retirees, spouses and dependents. And the company says it can’t sustain health care costs that increase each year by 15 percent.

Such costs erode Boeing’s business results and hurt its competitiveness, said company officials. In the Houston area, Boeing has more than 8,000 employees.

Boeing sends out a monthly “Harmony Health Program” newsletter to employees’ homes and operates 32 fitness centers, with some staffed by exercise physiologists who provide health screening, specialized exercise programs and nutritional advice.

Program participants also say that colleague support can do wonders. At the Weight Watchers meeting Barragan attends, her co-workers cheer each other on.

Nicole Reeves, 27, a records management analyst at UTMB’s Geriatric Services, has lost 18 pounds since joining the Weight Watchers program.

In the past, Reeves would join co-workers at local restaurant buffets. But support from her colleagues has helped her manage the amount she eats.

“I think it’s easier with co-workers keeping each other motivated,” Reeves said. “I would go out with girls to lunch who weren’t on a diet and I would just forget about mine; it’s easier with friends doing it too.”

More food options are available to U.S. residents than ever before. Pre-packaged foods, fast food restaurants and soft drinks also are more accessible. Portion size has increased and technology has made most Americans sedentary. Busy work and family schedules also prohibit exercise for many.

Companies are doing themselves and their employees a favor by providing healthy programs, said UTMB’s Cleveland.

For every $1 in health promotion, companies can realize $5 to $7 in improved health, reduced health care costs and improved productivity, Cleveland said.

UTMB spends about $1.40 per employee a year on health initiatives. But UTMB leaders this year are planning to make a healthy workforce an even higher priority, Cleveland said.

For an institution such as UTMB, with 13,000 employees, that money spent on such initiatives can have a huge bearing on the bottom line, he said.

Companies can do things big and small to create a healthier workplace, Cleveland said, from putting healthier snacks in vending machines to incentives for employees to join gyms.

“We say we’re here for the health of Texas,” Cleveland said. “But if our employees aren’t healthy, that’s going to make the mission much more difficult to accomplish.”

A weight on the bottom line

Obesity is associated with:

• 39 million lost workdays.
• 239 million restricted-activity days.
• 90 million bed days.
• 63 million physician visits.

— Source: The National Business Group on Health Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity.

• An adult is considered “overweight” when he or she is above a healthy weight, which varies according to a person’s height. An individual is overweight when their BMI is between 25–29.9. The standard used by researchers to define a person’s weight according to their height is “body mass index” (BMI). An adult with a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese. For example, for a 5’4” woman, this means that she is 30 or more pounds over her healthy weight.BMI is a common measure expressing the relationship (or ratio) of weight-to-height. It is a mathematical formula in which a person’s body weight in kilograms is divided by the square of his or her height in meters (i.e., wt/(ht)2). The BMI is more highly correlated with body fat than any other indicator of height and weight.
  ( Visit this site for a BMI calculator) http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm

• Individuals with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 are considered overweight, while individuals with a BMI of 30 or more are considered obese.

— Source: National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion