The Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs continues to embark on its workplace wellness activities aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles and behaviors among employees.
The Ministry recently granted employees of the Bank of Saint Lucia the opportunity to get health education and screening following a health fair held at their Bridge Street branch.
Health Educator in the Bureau of Health Education Janelle Alexander-Dupre says it is important that they work together with workplaces as to ensure a healthy workforce is created.
“What we do is bring our services whether it be blood pressure or blood sugar testing, different testing, screening, breast exams to the workplaces and assist them in getting their staff screened and that is what we want to continue. We did that long before COVID-19 but because of what was happening, we had to keep our distance. So, since we have gotten back in the stream, we are now partners and more of the institutions to get the staff screened and despite missing some of the services during the time of COVID-19 that they are still on a healthy lifestyle stream.”
Human Resource Officer for Employee Engagement at the Bank of Saint Lucia Bridget Leandre says she is very pleased to partner with the Ministry of Health in undertaking this timely health fair.
She believes that this activity will assist in fostering employee well-being and also enhancing productivity in the workplace.
“Employee wellness is something that is on the agenda. It has always been on the agenda of Bank of Saint Lucia. Bank of Saint Lucia cares about its employee and we want to know that our employees are healthy and well. So, as part of our strategic objective of having a culture of engagement and productivity, this is one of the key areas that we focusing on. Our employee health and wellness is key because of our employees are not well, they can not be happy and they can not be productive. So, this is one of the reasons we are partnering with the Ministry of Health to ensure that we help our employees stay well, stay healthy.”
The Health Educator also emphasized on the benefits of healthy lifestyle.
“The whole purpose is to remind us of health. Health first, health for us. If we can’t care for ourselves, we can’t care for others. And the more we learn about what is happening with our bodies is the more we can care for ourselves. With that, we are able to be more productive, we are able to give more to our workplaces, give more to our families, give more to our children and even have a lot more fun because we are healthy persons.”
The health fair provided the employees with the services of blood sugar and blood pressure testing, assessment of body mass index, doctor consultation, mental health session and health education to name a few. – Fernelle Neptune