Overview

The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Eating right, exercising, and sleeping well play an equal role in the prevention of infections and diseases. However, a good sense of self, a loving support network, and the potential for continued personal growth is also important to our overall wellbeing.

Many of us are not in control of the factors that cause us to become ill whether they be genetic, environmental, or something else entirely. There are many avenues we can take to improving our health, which include the use of traditional and modern medicines when we are ill.
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Health and Wellness: Access to Wellbeing

Overview

The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Eating right, exercising, and sleeping well play an equal role in the prevention of infections and diseases. However, a good sense of self, a loving support network, and the potential for continued personal growth is also important to our overall wellbeing.

Many of us are not in control of the factors that cause us to become ill whether they be genetic, environmental, or something else entirely. There are many avenues we can take to improving our health, which include the use of traditional and modern medicines when we are ill.

However, most people cannot access or afford proper health care such as healthy sanitation and hygiene, which is necessary to prevent the spread of disease.

Moreover, a large proportion of the global population are disenfranchised because of poverty, geographic location, disability, or social stigma against those who are ill. In addition, sexual health continues to be a highly contentious issue around the world particularly with concern to the method of transmission of some of the world’s deadliest diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, one of the most pressing issues in terms of health and wellness is the education, prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. The Millennium Development Goals seek to address this issue specifically in Goal 5: Improve maternal health and Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases.

While people of all ages should maintain good health, young people face special challenges as they transition from childhood to adulthood. With the onset of puberty, the body changes to accommodate physical and emotional growth, but it also marks one of the most vulnerable stages in a young person’s life. During this time, females tend to struggle more than males with body image and self-esteem issues which can lead to dangerous eating disorders and even death. On the other hand substance abuse, depression, self-mutilation and suicide have higher incident rates in males than females and if left untreated these health concerns may lead to permanent mental and physical damage.

Given that everyone’s body and medical history is different, it is important to be aware of what makes you sick and even what makes you feel better on a personal level.

There is extensive international research documenting the ways in which the health status of individuals or groups is significantly determined by social and economic conditions as well as by therapeutic care or personal health behaviours. Social determinants of health (SDOH) are social and economic conditions that influence the health of individuals and communities. A wealth
of research on SDOH provides evidence that: health follows a social gradient; stress damages health; the health impacts of early development and education lasts a lifetime; poverty and social exclusion cost lives; stress in the workplace increases the risk of disease; job security improves health;
unemployment causes illness and premature death; social supports and supportive networks improve health; alcohol, drug and tobacco use are influenced by the social setting; healthy food is a political issue; and healthy transport means walking and cycling and good public transport. Other basic determinants of health, such as genetics, interact with SDOH to present a broad overview of why
some individuals and communities are healthy while others are not.

In 2002, Canadian researchers, policy-makers and community representatives gathered together at a conference entitled “The Social Determinants of Health Across the Life-Span” to comment upon and discuss the current state and health
implications of key SDOH in Canada. The conference produced “The Toronto
Charter for a Healthy Canada” which identified ten key SDOH for Canadians as recognized in Health Canada and World Health Organization (WHO) documents. The ten determinants, in alphabetical order, include: early life; education; employment and working conditions; food security; health services; housing; income and income distribution; social in/exclusion; the social safety net (including contributions from the voluntary and community sector); and unemployment and job security. SDOH are directly related to the ways in which resources are organized and distributed among the members of a society.

Sustainable health and wellness is not only part of our survival but it is also a continuously rewarding way to live out our entire lives.

Additional References:

Marmot, M. G. (2004). The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing affects our health and Longevity. New York, NY: Times Books.

Raphael, D. (2004). Social Determinants of Health: Canadian Perspectives. Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars’ Press.
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Apothecary Jobs

Niko,

Your comment about small business is often made to me. Certainly, small businesses do not have the critical mass of employees to do some of what we do, like setting up on-site clinics. In fact, about half of our U.S. population, the Pitney Bowes Management Services employees who work on customer sites, resemble a collection of small businesses in their demographics. We average about 20 per site, not enough to set up onsite clinical outreach.

On the other hand, small businesses have an even greater stake in the health of their employees because every employee typically has multiple responsibilities and is less replaceable than an employee in a large business. Years ago, a female small business owner told me how conflicted she was in hiring a particular woman with chronic health problems. She hired the person, but felt more vulnerable than someone running a big business because the woman would be the only person performing a wide variety of mission-critical tasks.

Small and mid-sized businesses do not have the ability to get low medical cost premiums the way we can, but they can help create a culture of health that will reduce health care costs over the long run, but, more importantly, reduce absenteeism, workers compensation, and “presenteeism” expenses in the short run.

- mike

John,

We have had portable defibrillators in our fitness centers and our medical centers for some time. It is challenging to have them elsewhere because there are extensive training, equipment maintenance, and compliance requirements, and these defibrillators get used so infrequently that trained employees often move to other jobs or other locations after training, but before the equipment would get used. As a broader rule, we support the concept of first responders, but find out that the practical problem is one of keeping a stable group of responders to address the specific problem they are trained to address.

- mike

My mother likes to say “Money gives you choices”, which holds true on a broader scale. Because you care about health, and PB has the resources, you’re able to carry out your agenda. But for the many small to midsize companies who don’t care about their employees or are operating on fumes, what can be done? I hope you can share some of your humanity and expertise with others, because this crisis needed to be resolved yesterday.

Unfortunately most companies are reactive – implementing programs AFTER an illness, injury or death has occurred, and often simply to avoid a lawsuit, which really has little to do with employee wellness. A Proactive company seeks (and implements) programs to improve worker health & safety BEFORE the incident occurs.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the #1 cause of death in the United States, taking an estimated 400,000 lives every year (OSHA)that’s more than prostate cancer, breast cancer and AIDS – combined, yet few companies have a CPR/AED workplace program or on-site AEDs, which increase the survival rate to better than 90%.

Insist on a CPR/AED workplace program in your facility. Please visit http://www.fres-cpr.com to learn more.

Thank you for the forum

I believe the reason why more Americans are overweight today verse “back then” is due to both working parents, dealing with daycare (centers and in-home), managing in a very competitive workforce and long commutes to and from work. I am most certain that the majority is aware of better health habits but, there is more to this that meets the stomach.

As a society, we deal with stress from the time we get out of bed and it is an ongoing challenge, mentally. I feel that companies should have couple fulltime psychologists that are more accessible than what EPA plans offer (i.e. social workers). If we provide an easy avenue for employees to talk about what is eating them internally it would relieve the majority of health issues we all deal with today. Also, it would be beneficial if we held ‘quality life’ workshops at our work facilities, instead of a 30 minute slide show presentation given by “Value Options” at your desk (i.e. webex, e-meeting, etc).

Excising the ‘Mind’ to better health has major advantages and I feel were not doing enough to assist those in need. Putting bananas by the cash registers is not going to entice the individual to eat healthier if their not feeling good about themselves in the first place.

Thank you,
~PM

Best wishes, Bill