Blue Ridge Paper, Inc., Mirrors Successful Asheville Project Wellness Program
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc., began to see the need for a wellness program in 2001, after recognizing that healthcare costs were skyrocketing. Bonnie Blackley, Benefits Director at Blue Ridge, began by conducting initial screenings of employees to determine the root of the higher costs. Those screenings showed shocking results. Fifty percent of participants at the first location had diabetes. The company expanded their screenings to all seven of its locations and found health issues in addition to diabetes, further supporting the need to develop a company-wide wellness program. Blackley recounted the success of the nearby Asheville Project to senior staff and was given the green light to mirror a similar program for Blue Ridge Paper Products.
The Asheville Project, a free drug program, began 10 years ago for the City of Asheville and Mission Hospitals employees with diabetes. The program has since added free drugs for asthma, blood pressure, cholesterol problems and depression. Patients in the program agree to meet regularly with pharmacists who advise and encourage them to take their medicine and adopt healthy habits. This highly successful program has been emulated by more than 30 employers nationwide.
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc., a company with about 2,200 covered members, began its wellness venture with a diabetes program based on the Asheville Project. They have since expanded to include programs for weight management, fitness center incentives, health risk assessments, nurse coaching, tobacco cessation and more. "Participation rates are high, and employees have voiced their appreciation for these programs," says Pam Ramsey, Benefits Service Center Supervisor at Blue Ridge. "They have joined in the effort by creating some health initiatives of their own, like forming weight loss teams that compete to lose the most pounds as a group. They weigh in together on our large paper scales so that no one has to divulge their individual weight. They really have fun with this. One team lost the equivalent of a whole person!"
The current wellness program is based on the philosophy that health is related to how we deal with what we are given in life. "Our intent is not to tell employees what they need to do to improve their health," says Ramsey. "We ask what we can do to remove barriers that prevent them from having a healthier lifestyle."
In 2004, the company opened a full-service medical center and pharmacy dedicated to its members. Blue Ridge Paper, Inc. then opened its doors to its centralized Benefits Service Center, housed in the same building as the clinic and pharmacy, to add to the convenience of "one-stop shopping" when it comes to benefits.
"All of this - the wellness program, clinic and pharmacy - is a win-win situation for each of us," says Ramsey. "The wellness program that began with only 28 members six years ago has grown into a much larger Population Health Management Program, and the rise in healthcare costs have been reduced to single-digits."
