A company’s most productive employees are typically the ones that show up for work day in and day out, able to do so by staying healthy.
But the process of keeping employees well occasionally calls for them to miss work time to visit the doctor when they have an illness or issue that needs medical attention or for scheduled check-ups.
Some companies have improved on that by adding on-site medical centers, making it convenient for employees and reducing the amount of time away during the workday.
However, the largest employer in Columbus is taking workers’ health a step further, providing proactive programs and services intended to teach healthier lifestyles so that reactive medical attention is less likely to be needed.
During a July 14 public reception, Cummins Inc. unveiled its LiveWell Center, located at 806 Jackson St., adjacent to the company’s downtown Columbus corporate headquarters and within walking distance of other company facilities.
The center, which was 10 years in the making, is easily accessible to about 9,500 Cummins employees and their dependents, about 17,000 people in all.
A wide range of services are offered, such as primary care, urgent care for illnesses and minor injuries, plus physical therapy. Vision and hearing services are provided. Visiting specialists will rotate at the center.
However, it’s the center’s proactive services that are really attention-catching. Lifestyle coaching and services are offered, and the center features a teaching kitchen to educate workers on cooking meals using plant-based whole foods.
U.S. Assistant Surgeon General Rear Adm. Jim Lando, a guest at the reception, was so impressed that he hailed the LiveWell Center as “revolutionary” in terms in terms of teaching employees how to live healthy lifestyles.
Cummins’ LiveWell Center represents a greater level of investment in the care of its employees, and the efforts to help improve their health is commendable at a time when cases of obesity and diabetes, for example, are on the rise in the U.S.
Based on Lando’s reaction to the LiveWell Center, Cummins’ model for employee health care is one worth replicating by other companies across the country. That would make the center not only revolutionary but also trend-setting.
