This town made wellness a way of life - Wellsburg, W. Va worked with Sterling Drugs' Bayer Div. to study and decrease rate of cardiac arrests in the community

Business & Health, Dec, 1996 by Mary Lou Hurley, Lisa Schiff

The firm recently offered flu vaccine, with 1,400 doses available on a first-come, first-served basis inside the mill. Weirton plans to track outcomes for those who got the shots, says medical director Dale Block, MD, including who develops serious illnesses during the winter and who misses time from work. On-site screenings for high cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose and breast and prostate cancer are in the planning stage.

The key, says Block, is to bring wellness into the steel mill, where some 5,400 employees work on three different shifts. Traditionally, health programs have been offered at the company's headquarters four miles away and, depending on their work schedule, some mill workers found it hard to get there. "Sometimes the mill workers feel slighted because things are only offered at headquarters, where it's more convenient for exempt employees, dependents and retirees," he notes. "We're trying to reach as many employees as possible."

Taking a cue from the Bayer-PacifiCare project, the company will join with local health care providers in developing health screenings, aerobics and smoking cessation classes for area residents. Its community outreach efforts have already begun. Weirton recently opened a walking trail and bicycle path on corporate headquarters that are open to the public.

Asked about the payoff, Block demurs. Weirton hasn't analyzed the costs, he says, but he believes savings are inevitable. "Sometimes you have to spend money to save money," he says. "We think it's important to promote good health, and we know that we'll save money down the road, and that hospitalizations and length of stay will be down."

Today, the German-based Bayer Corp (the brand's current owner) is considering funding a wellness program at Bethany College in nearby Bethany, according to C. Gordon McCarty, manager of university relations, possibly to capitalize on Bayer's good name. The site would house the Brooke County Wellness Program. Formed during the years of the Bayer project, the non-profit Brooke County program now sponsors many of the activities--from walking and health fairs to exercise-credited with keeping Wellsburg residents in shape.