Prevention Partner Headquarters

BUSINESS

Business Prevention Partners follow these strategies:

Promote Healthy Behaviors in Your Business

Physical Activity

Establish a clearinghouse of worksite health promotion information to promote, implement, and evaluate physical activity programs.
Establish a mechanism, perhaps through the clearinghouse, to track the development of work site physical activity programs.
Make policy and environmental changes in order to promote healthy lifestyles, such as improving the safety of stairwells, providing worksite exercise facilities, and offering flexible hours and incentives to encourage employees to be physically active.

Nutrition

Provide both financial and organizational resources for the implementation of a statewide task force to achieve the 2010 nutrition objectives.
Offer healthy options in meal setting or vending areas.
Offer or host healthy easting, healthy weight, and fitness programs in the workplace.
Provide accurate information about foods served.
Participate in monitoring the health status of employees by collecting employee data and providing employees with self-tracking tools.

Tobacco Use

Negotiate with insurance carriers to cover evidence-based treatment for nicotine dependency.
Create a smoke-free work environment.
Offer tobacco cessation classes.
Develop incentive programs to encourage employees to go tobacco-free.

Alcohol and Drug Use

Develop and promote drug-free workplace strategies including pre-employment testing, drug-free workplace policies with penalties and consequences, and resource and referral information for employees.
Develop resources to assist small businesses, including pre-employment drug testing services available at low cost, centralized testing sites; sample policies available as templates; and information on resources and referrals.
Negotiate insurance coverage for alcohol and other drug treatment and assure parity with other health benefits.

Responsible Sexual Behavior

Offer health insurance that covers contraceptives.
Large business can provide sexual awareness and prevention information at work, and make available counseling, education, and referring services.
Create and provide, or participate in, job programs that provide youth with after school/weekend activities, while building job skills, self-esteem, and confidence in their economic futures.

Promote Healthy Communities

Environmental Quality

Create partnerships with state agencies (e.g., DNREC regarding ozone) to help large and small businesses protect the environment and comply with regulations.
Adopt programs and encourage employees to participate in work site recycling, waste reduction, and resource conservation efforts.
Utilize good open space/land management and reforesting practices.
Provide employees with incentives to sue alternative modes of transportation such as public transportation and car pools.
Create partnerships with government agencies and community organizations to increase availability of lead safe housing in Delaware.

Violence

For large businesses, develop a response team, resources, policies, and a safe physical environment. Also, provide training programs and resources to learn how to respond to and understand the victim.
Provide education and referral services for violence prevention and early intervention.
Participate in youth mentoring programs.

Education

Encourage parent involvement in school meetings and events by allowing alternative work schedules (e.g., flextime, compressed time).
Participate in mentoring/tutoring programs with schools. Large businesses to "adopt" schools.
Support employees enhancing their education (particularly GEDs) and literacy skills by offering tuition reimbursement, time off, or flex work schedules.
Provide affordable, high quality daycare and childcare services with flexible hours that are educationally based and connected to the workplace.

Prevent and Reduce Diseases and Disorders

Mental Health

Increase employee awareness of available Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), mental health benefits in employer provided
health insurance plans, and policies for use of "sick leave."
Request Delaware Chamber of Commerce to assist in establishing EAPs, particularly for small businesses.
Increase employer awareness of possible employee mental health issues affecting the health of organizations.

Injury and Disability

Establish a regular means of communication to make employees aware of community safety events.
Develop incentives to encourage employees to practice safety at work and at home such as free lunch coupons or certificate of recognition.
Initiate injury prevention programs for back injuries, slips, trips, and falls.
Mandate seatbelt use by employees to decrease missed days of work.
Improve environment, equipment, and education to reduce the risk of injury and disability.

Preventive Services Use

Provide employees with information on what preventive services are available and facilitate the use of service programs.
Provide health insurance with a minimum preventive service benefits package specific to the needs of employees.
Partner with professional organizations to promote the benefits of preventive service use and healthy lifestyles to employees.
Assist business leaders in adopting practices and targeting training programs to improve cultural competency as it relates to health care service delivery.
Identify, utilize, and evaluate tools for assessing employee needs, readiness for change, and cultural background.

Infant Health

Provide insurance packages for employees that include prenatal care, postpartum and infant care, and special services for high-risk pregnant women.
Establish partnerships with community agencies to provide educational material, programs, and referrals to employees focusing on maternal and infant health.
Offer special programs, such as incentives and flextime, to assist women in keeping prenatal care appointments, accommodate breastfeeding mothers, and decrease absenteeism.

Improve Health Systems

Access to Health Care Services

Provide onsite health care services where appropriate and feasible.
Sponsor community health programs in coordination with public health officials, local health care providers, community leaders, and others.
Promote access to health care by providing health insurance coverage for employees and their dependents that includes coverage for primary and preventive health care services.
Work with the private and public sector to develop strategies for improving the ability of small businesses to provide affordable health insurance coverage for employees and dependents.