Good Health and Well-Being

Today, Whole Kids Foundation announced 602 new school and school-garden-support-organization grant recipients. The recipients cover 46 U.S. states and nine Canadian provinces, providing educational opportunities around agriculture, ecology, nutrition and business for 356,798 students.

Last week marked the 2018 National Public Health Week (NPHW), hosted by the American Public Health Association (APHA). Under the theme Healthiest Nation 2030: Changing Our Future Together, organizations nationwide shone a spotlight on issues most impacting Americans right now and affecting the wellbeing of the nation – from mental health to preventable diseases, environmental health, violence and health equality.

This year HPE has already committed to launching five additional facilities. In February, HPE and the State Government of Uttarakhand signed an agreement to donate four eHealth Centers and one telemedicine studio in the state, which sits in one of the most treacherous and mountainous regions of India. Meanwhile, in the state of Maharsahtra, the government has requested HPE open a sixth center following the success of five deployed centers that have already benefitted over 10,000 patients. The new center is expected to benefit a population base of 9,000 additional villagers across 3 villages in and around Pachora.

In the U.S., human health is largely determined by five key factors: social/economic environment, physical environment, behavior, genetics and access to healthcare. Although access to healthcare is often considered one of the smallest health determinants, a disproportionate 86% of our national health spending is directed toward treating chronic diseases that are generally preventable.

Eight global roundtables attended by more than 350 organizations. Hundreds of alternative adherence paths (AAPs) that open up new strategies and pathways for projects, along with 195 equivalency submissions that support WELL’s global adoption. 632 amendments in seven addenda updates that provided continuous improvements. Thousands of conversations with real estate leaders, architects, interior designers, sustainability consultants, academic researchers, health care practitioners, and human resource professionals from all over the world. This is how you evolve a global rating system for buildings when the focus is on no less than improving the health and wellness for the people inside them.

CBRE announces its three Toronto offices have simultaneously achieved WELL Certification at the silver level for New and Existing Interiors by the International WELL Building Institute™ (IWBI™). Awarded based on IWBI’s WELL Building Standard™ (WELL™), the world’s first building standard to focus on enhancing employees’ health and wellness through the built environment, CBRE is pioneering wellness in workplace design with the most WELL Certified office spaces of any company across the globe. The firm now has a total of six WELL Certified offices globally, four in Canada alone, with an additional three registered for certification.

Discovery Education has partnered with a number of youth service organizations to develop resources that can help educators and communities address the social and emotional needs of students.

The American Heart Association today announced the receipt of a $1.7 million grant from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation that will address patient care across the care continuum. With this grant, the AHA will convene a task force representing the myriad of stakeholders in the patient care journey: cardiology specialty care providers, primary care providers, government, payer groups, and representatives of the patients we seek to serve. This work will complement the existing strategies being implemented through the Accountable Health Community work, spearheaded by the Baltimore City Healthy Department.

Industrial workers aren’t afraid to “get down and dirty” on the job – but they’ll be happier, safer and more productive if their work environments are equipped to be kept as clean as can be.

This requires more than a once-in-a-while initiative of posters and pamphlets encouraging your workforce to be mindful of the mess. If you want to take full advantage of the business-building benefits of a cleaner work environment, it takes a new corporate mindset, from the corner office to the shop floor. This infographic highlights three key steps that will take you a long way down this often-overlooked path to a safer, more productive workplace.

Some of the biggest upside potential in long-term care lies in remembering that it’s not only health care – it’s life care. Successful LTC organizations can create healthier environments that are more liveable in the long-term by creating a “comprehensive culture of caring,” one that is patient-centered and encompasses the concerns, and input, of residents, their families, and the staff that hopefully seeks to serve them like family.