Video Story
Watch VideoPenrose Hospital's "Club HIIP"
Story By: Susan Davies
Source: KOAA
At the state capital and throughout Colorado the buzz is about fixing the broken health care system. Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs is taking on the challenge of "wellness" in an award-winning way - one employee at a time. The hospital's "club HIIP" program gives workers the tools and convincing reasons to get healthy. "Club HIIP" stands for health improvement incentive program. Penrose-St. Francis started "club HIIP" back in the late 90's. Workers can earn one hundred dollars or a paid day off for investing time in fitness and wellness. If you think nurses and doctors are generally poster people for health, you'd be wrong.
Kristine Barrett is program coordinator for "Club HIIP."
"Many times so many of us take care of everybody else, the last person they take care of is themselves. So we have to work extra hard to convince medical employees to take care of themself if they're going to take care of patients on the floors."
Some of the participants have achieved remarkable results. Erin Tatum is a patient access coordinator. She was formerly diagnosed as borderline diabetic. She's lost forty-five pounds. Her cholesterol has gone from 202 to 169.
"They're paying me to be fit and healthy. You can't beat that."
Rox Norris has an even more dramatic story. Heart disease took her father at age 36, and his father at age 54. As a result, Rox has taken aggressive steps to improve her own health. She counts close to 12 thousand steps each day. She's thirty-three pounds thinner with near perfect cholesterol levels. Last spring a doctor had to remove a clot and blockage in her corotid artery. She can't change her genetics, but her recovery was remarkable.
"I honestly believe had I not been involved in this program, I wouldn't be here today."
Recently Penrose won an award from the American Heart Association for its employee health program. It's the first company in southern Colorado to win. Those who run this program say a higher premium must be put on employee wellness - especially in hospitals.
Out of Penrose's 2666 employees, forty percent are involved in the hospital's wellness program. This past year 10-15% completed the program and earned the incentives. The staff says their 2008 goal is to improve those percentages.
