This post may contain affiliate links, and I will be compensated (at no extra cost to you) when you make a purchase by clicking on my links.
Throughout this month, I’ve noticed many people coming to my blog searching for activities for Heart Health Month. So, this seems like the perfect time to share an article I wrote a couple of years ago. I would also love to hear what you do in your workplace to promote healthier hearts!
Most of you probably know that February is American Heart Health Month. What you may not know is that President Lyndon B. Johnson established Heart Health Month through an official proclamation in 1963.
While cardiovascular disease has declined significantly since that time, it remains a major cause of death and disability in our country. The good news is that there is so much we can do to prevent and control heart disease.
That’s why I encourage you to come up with lots of ways to include employees at your workplace in a celebration of Heart Health Month. Check out these seven ideas to get you started.
Celebrate employee accomplishments
Create a bulletin board featuring employees who have made heart-healthy changes in their lives. You might include someone who:
- Quit smoking
- Lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off
- Recovered from a heart attack and returned to their job
- Transformed from a couch potato to a marathon runner
Organize a fundraiser
Raise money to support an organization that provides cardiac care in underserved areas. For example, you might donate to a charity that provides free heart surgery to children such as Save a Child’s Heart. If you need money-making suggestions, check out my fundraising archives, where you’ll find over 100 possibilities.
Wear red
Join the rest of the country in wearing red on the first Friday in February in honor of Women’s Heart Health Day. This is an excellent opportunity to involve both the employees and the residents. Be sure to take lots of photos to show everyone having fun together while supporting a great cause.
This is also an excellent day to make heart health information available to staff. The National Institutes of Health offers an array of free publications such as posters, brochures, and fact sheets. Use the search bar on their website to see the heart health topics. Most come in downloadable format, and you can order some in print form, too.
Host guest speakers
Invite experts to educate your staff on how they can protect their precious hearts. I find this works best when scheduled as a lunch ‘n learn. Employees can bring bag lunches, or you can provide a light, healthy lunch for them.
Speakers and topics might include:
- Dietician: facts & myths about healthy eating
- Public health nurse: resources and creative approaches to quit smoking
- Dental hygienist: how mouth health affects heart health (Ask if they’ll bring dental goody bags for participants, too!)
- EAP (employee assistance program): tips to cope with stress
- Chef: show how to make quick & easy healthy snacks or desserts
- NP or PA: information and Q&A on a variety of heart topics such as atrial fibrillation, good & bad cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, or signs of a heart attack
- Exercise physiologist: how to create a heart-healthy exercise routine
Get up and move
I suspect your direct care staff put in a lot of steps every day. But for employees who spend most of their time sitting at a desk, you can encourage getting up and stretching every 30-60 minutes. Check out these options from VeryWellFit.
Another option is forming a walking group before work, during lunch break, or after work. Besides providing exercise, an outdoor walk on a beautiful day lifts the spirits and promotes creativity.
If the weather is terrible, plan a walk through your building. Besides exercise, this gives those behind-the-scenes staff a chance to get out and mingle with residents and frontline staff.
Enjoy a potluck meal
Challenge staff to come up with their tastiest healthy dishes to share at a potluck meal. Be sure to schedule times when all shifts can take part. Ask staff to bring their recipes, then create a little cookbook or make the recipes available in a downloadable format.
You can also recruit a team of judges to select the best dishes, then provide small prizes. These might include a gift card to a healthy cafe, a fruit basket, a book of healthy recipes, or a pedometer. (What other ideas do you have for prizes? Please share in the comment section!)
Put together a team
The “run/walk for charity” season is just around the corner. Get a group of employees together and promote heart health by training for a 5k. If you need ideas for motivating employees to take part, you’ll want to check out this post.
Now I would love to hear how you celebrate Heart Health Month at your senior living community. Please let me know in the comment section.
Leave a Reply