Travis County Commssioners Court
February 3, 2004
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Item 11
Now, going back to our wellness item that is number 11, consider and take appropriate action on recommendations relative to the Travis County employee we willness program.
>> thank you.
>> good morning, I'm the executive manager for administrative operations. We're here to update the court on our wellness program. And we have several members of the committee to discuss the items that are before you. We have a committee report that will cover the festival preparations, and that festival will be held at the granger building on February the 12th. And that's on a Thursday, and that's for all Travis County employees and their families. Participants in the festival and procedures for employees to sign up, review pledge forms that you had asked us to put together the last time we met with you, measures to track outcomes of projects and then methodology for tracking project participants and progress achievements. We'd also like to discuss funding for the wellness program. And then we have some of our members here from the committee to encourage participation for all employees in that festival. And then we'd like to ask the court also to participant by advertising.
>> also, in the second page of your backup, this is a schedule of activities and events that will be held at the festival, at the health care festival? They will have a lot of booths and educational seminars and massage and an opportunity for you to sign up for mentoring, and education on diabetes and nutrition and weight loss and weight training. Also, we will have the lion's club van here and they will be able to do some testing on hearing and visual acuity, glawk, glucose and blood pressure, and that will be absolutely free to anyone that that comes to the festival. We will also have an opportunity for employees to sign up for individual walking. We have several volunteers that will lead walking groups from the granger building and we also ask for other volunteers from the different outlying buildings that are Travis County, precinct 4 and the airport road and del valle and palm school, if they have anyone that would like to volunteer to lead walking groups in those areas and just sign up. Leroy will also have his booth signing people up for mentoring with school age children, and we have busy bodies -- busy buddies that is -- try to say that five times. That is a health group in town, an exercise group, a gym, and they will be providing massage therapists. We also have an individual young woman named lauren bar who is a licensed therapist that will be providing massage. United health care will be assessing and talking about providing we willness information and talking about how you access muhc.com, and that is a service that is available to all Travis County employees. You can go on the internet, muhc.com, provide your information and look at all the expenditures you have made in health care and in pharmaceuticals also. And that will give you a detail of that information.
>> what's that again?
>> it's wwwmyhu.com.
>> my?
>> yes, sir. One word, myuhc. The american diabetes association will join us to provide education and support groups and let them know about the services of the american diabetes association for everyone that is interested in that. We have safeguard dental with prevent tall dental hygiene and talking about different services that you are provided through our dental plan. American heart association will also join us with education support groups for heart and circulatory problems, and of course this year -- this month I believe is heart month, and a lot of education on women and heart disease. So if you want to learn more about that, please come to the festival. We will have the Austin diagnostic clinic also providing --
>> let me ask you -- back up on the american heart association cook books will be offered. Is that they will be -- will they -- will they give them or is that something that they'll have them -- is that a cost?
>> they are going to have cook books that are available to distribute, but those are cook books that you could also get by just calling their office and requesting the information.
>> so that's the sort of thing that that's -- basically everything on this page is free?
>> free.
>> you don't have to take your wallet with you to do anything?
>> that's correct. That's correct.
>> Austin die no, sir stick clinic will classes in nutrition and weight loss for those who must lose 30 pounds or more. This is a particular program that is geared to individuals that need to lose a lot of weight for health reasons our insurance does cover that if it's related to a health concern where people need to lose weight. And Austin die no, sir stick clinic will provide their or entation for that program. We hopeo have a culinary demonstration on now to prepare healthy feasts and also make make food taste good while it is healthy.
>> maybe I can find some b ruvment ussel sprouts.
>> we will also have the respiratory services of Texas and they will talk about managing asthma and other respiratory illnesses and also allergies, which is something we have a lot of in Austin. There will be classes on personal hygiene and how to learn more about after exercise hygiene. Lee mccormick will be at the festival. Lee? Raise your hand. Do you want to tell them what you'll be doing?
>> good morning. Lee mccormick, risk management. Part of the demonstrations is -- [inaudible - no mic]. They have no idea what they need to do, but what they need to know, give some basic listening techniques, some exercises for cardio they could do and some different types of exercises that they could use at home just in case they don't want to go to a gym. Hopefully if I have another personal trainer there with me to help me out. But if not, we'll get everybody through the system and hopefully there. And also for the first 10 people that come through that -- that steps in the afternoon and morning, they will be able to get a free workout session for the first session and the second session of the program.
>> we'll have the Austin cycle club here to learn more about cycling for those of you that would like to take up cycling as a method of exercise. Our Travis County parks staff will be here also to talk about the wonderful hiking and walking maps that we have and also the walking tracks that we have at the parks. And there's some pretty grueling walking and hiking trails out there. And they'd like to share those with people and encourage people to use the resources that are there that are absolutely free. Gold's gym will be here to also talk about their facilities and provide information on fitness programs. Subway sandwiches will be here to provide samples of low carb sandwiches, nutritional information. They'll have their products on sale and they're also volunteering a tray of sandwiches for our volunteers that help us out in this program. We'll have several doctors here to talk about heart disease and also lung disease and smoking cessation. Austin die no, sir stick clinic -- die no, sir stick clinic will be here to talk about weight loss and exercise.
>> and weight loss, as much as 80-pound in three or four months? Learn how to do that? Is that really something that they --
>> what their specialty is in individuals that need to lose 30-pound or more. And if it's related to an illness or a disease, our insurance will cover it.
>> okay.
>> on the next page is a commitment, a form that will be provided to all Travis County employees to ask them what they are going to do to contribute to the county wellness program. We would like a commitment from each and every employee to do an activity, either to exercise, to lose weight, to watch their calorie intake, to take their blood pressure, whatever it is that they -- to relax, reduce their stress, whatever it is that they feel that they need to do in order to contribute to a wellness program and also in every activity that they take, every step will improve our ability to control health care costs. Now and in the future also. So we put a couple of examples, if you want to lose weight, increase exercise, reduce stress or eat a nutritious diet, those are just examples. We expect that employees will fill out what it is that they would like to do. And we'd also like for them to agree to provide information so that we can track their progress and provide any assistance which we can to help them reach their goals.
>> so do we give the employees an opportunity, though, to express themselves other than these four examples?
>> oh, yes.
>> you don't leave any space there.
>> right over here on where the following is what I will do to improve my own wellness and health.
>> then we have four examples, space for those. You mean farther down there?
>> we just kind of left it open, judge, because I'm sure that there will be so many different -- we can put on the bottom, say other comments.
>> the following is what I will do to improve my own we willness and health, and we have four specifics. I'm suggesting that there ought to be a five that says other. The four specifics that are off to the right, which implies you're supposed to check those. If you want to do all four, you check all of them. If you want to do one, you check that one. There's not an other, though, which would be number five.
>> perhaps it's just really reformatting because these are just to be examples. If we put weight loss, increase exercise, reduce stress all on the top, then leave it all blank to see what they're going to do. It was not meant as a checklist, it was meant more as an example of what people would do.
>> may I suggest putting in parenthesis those four and then having lines there so they could put tha down.
>> that would work.
>> I'm assuming I'm reading this like a regular employee would.
>> that would work.
>> where they put in what they wanted and it didn't have to be any of these, but if it doesn't read that way to you...
>> am I missing that?
>> these are examples.
>> the way it read right now, there are spaces to the right where you're going to indicate whether you're going to do one of those four. This form may need a five, six or seven. See where you have examples? I'd put parenthesis and list those right next to it and then have a space down there, put what you want to.
>> that's a good point.
>> if you're diabetic, as I am, my first thought was where would I put glucose level?
>> good point.
>> okay. We can do that. No problem.
>> the wellness measurements for individual programs, lee, did you want to talk about this?
>> nancy is going to.
>> good morning. I'm nancy goodman, health and human services, veterans service. And the next part in your packet, which has a variety of measurements, is intended as a takeaway for the people that complete the pledge that alicia just talked about. It has a variety of different measurements for the employee to track the progress so that at the end of the three months we can be able to see what kind of success we had from the folks who were making a commitment for wellness. So that's just an additional handout, a tool for folks to be able to use. If they have another method of tracking their progress, they're certainly welcome to do that, but that was put together with the intention that we could be able to provide them a way of tracking their progress. If they want to lose weight, there's information on their weekly weigh-ins. If they are interested in tracking progress on inches lost, that's there. If they're wanting to work on lowering the number of cigarettes that they take in a day or trying to give up cigarettes completely and they're not part of the pilot, they can use -- they can use that and track that individually as well. The other thing that we wanted to discuss with you were the three focus pilot projects. And those are the colored forms in your packet. That seemed to simplify it for us to try to keep up with what we were talking about at any given time. The first one is the blue form, which is the cardio vascular health and buy dietz -- diabetes management. So we have the pledge card that incorporated some of the changes that we talked about last time, and it includes the ability or the requirement for the employee that is interested in a particular pilot to affirm and certify that they will be making this commitment to be part of this pilot focus. The cardio vascular health and diabetes management, we are interested in tracking a variety of measurements that are included on the pledge card. And when folks sign up for this, they will take away a journal that lee has put together that has the specific areas where they can track their progress and basically just keep up with all the different measurements that we're hoping will improve over the course of the three month period of time. So we have the pledge card and then the roster that we'll be using at the health fair. We're also, I believe, going to be putting this out electronically so that folks who are not actually able to get over here on the 12th will still have the ability to sign up for one of these three pilots. So the one pilot being the cardio vascular health and diabetes management. The second pilot being the prevention control and management of asthma, lung disease and smoking cessation with the corresponding measurements and strategies associated with that. Then the third pilot is the weight loss pilot that alicia was mentioning before with Austin diagnostic clinic being on site to be able to answer questions for people that may be pursuing using that as a resource for their weight loss. This pilot, though, also includes people who may not be interested in signing up specifically with the Austin diagnostic clinic, but still want to be part of the weight loss pilot. They will still have opportunities to attend the classes, be involved in some of the support groups that we put together as well as affiliating with one of the walking groups that we'll be promoting as well.
>> thank you. We are working with its and hr and the committee to try to develop easy methods by which individuals can track their success. The last page in your handout shows an example of what a tracker would look like to where people can go just on the internet or use their logs that we are providing to track their success record of how many miles walked, blood pressure, lung capacity, reduction of use of tobacco, strength training, any of those activities or measures that would help individuals again track their own goals. We have a couple of members of the committee here, and i'd like for them to introduce themselves and give a message to their co-workers.
>> good morning. My name's vela ray and I work in its and i'll be leading one of the walking groups, hopefully the three mile. I hope to have lots of employees join me. And we'll are statisticking on the 17th, that Tuesday, okay, on the 17th, and we'll start off at 11:30 everyday Monday through Thursday, so come out d join me.
>> and I'm with the wellness program at prairie view a&m university. I've been working on the committee and trying to work with the food demonstration and getting someone to come and prepare heart healthy, low fat, nutritious meals. So I believe that once employees see that they can continue to eat some of the things that they like or all of the things that they like, that there's an alternative way to preparing it, then I think that will be paramount in order to people to maintain a healthy life-style overall.
>> and that's again February the 12th, and that's on on a Thursday, starts at 10:00 a.m. In the morning. And goes through the afternoon. Please join us. It will not be the only health care festival that we had. We do plan to take the show on the road. Tnr is working in developing their own health care program as is the sheriff's department. We hope to come back to you the 17th and report to you %n those two programs. There's a couple of other issues that we'd lik to discuss with the court. I'm going to ask Sam to -- dan to come up. Dan mansour and lee mccormick have really been pinch hitting since we don't have a we willness coordinator, been working with the committee and keeping up on all the suggestions and the methodology that we will use to measure the success, but also to encourage participation in the program. So we're going to talk about funding now of some wellness program for the future and -- current and future projects.
>> good morning. I think you can tell from the group represented here today that we have a wealth of talent in Travis County and we have drawn on every bit of tha talent that we can find. And I think an example is with lee, developing a journal, saving a tremendous amount of money and crystal working to bring some culinary folks in to do some of the food prep and nancy working very hard on the newsletter and plejdz and -- pledges and also guidance from barbara wilson. But we're at a point now that -- we're at a point now that we're going to have to look at community resources, and that requires some funding. There will be some fees associated with that. We were also able to have a sponsor for the lion's club and safeguard insurance has agreed to pay for the 200-dollar fee associated with that. But we're looking for some funding for the projects that follow our health festival as well as the -- as alicia says, our world tour that will be taking this on the road that will require some funding to put together the other programs. So we're here to ask the court to provide some funding for these programs. And I think we -- we've got -- what's that figure?
>> I think we had talked about a couple of numbers, 15,000 and 25,000. 15,000 we can tell you specifically where it's going. The 25 was to provide a little bit more flexibility in the things that we would like to have done. The primary costs would be to provide trainers, lab screening, the pedometers, the 90-day diet and what we call fat trackers. Educational materials for employees and also, again, to provide trainers for the program.
>> there's some additional equipment that we'd like to purchase, blood pressure equipment to test blood pressure as well as scales so that we don't have to go outside and pay a fee to an organization to do this. Employees would be able to do this through hr.
>> do we have a firm amount? A firm amount for those resources? Do we have a firm amount, fixed amount that you are suggesting?
>> yes, sir. So what we can tell you I think specifically that we'd spend for is about 15,000. And with the caveat that if we need more, we'd come back with the specifics. If not, it would be 25,000. I think that would get us through the year.
>> we typically don't just ask for a sum of money. We typically have a list of items that we know that we are looking at. The other part of this was the incentive program that I thought we all included was critical. What happened to that?
>> we've not had an opportunity to develop that program as of yet. The program -- the two people that were developing the program were myself and susan. And we will develop the program, have a lot bit of time to do it.
>> I think on budget stuff we ought to see a listing specifically what we're asked to so we can vote on it. And I don't know that allocating a certain amount of money with the understanding that -- we typically don't do it that way. You need scales and blood pressure and monitor and whatever it is I think we should cost them out so they could see it. There are weight scales and there are weight scales. You're talking about commercial brand or -- I'm tempted to bring my personal scale from home, but it may be that we need a commercial set. [ laughter ] I mean, what -- am I asking too much?
>> no, sir. [overlapping speakers].
>> maybe we ought to see the incentives too. It really is guesstimating a sum that is likely to motivate folks. The other thing in my view is what diseases or health categories you cover. But I would -- I mean, I would gear this to the diseases that drive our employee health insurance cost. And I don't know whether that's five or whether that's 10, but I will certainly make sure that I will start with identifying them. And two, I would provide as much incentive as possible to make those who fit in the different diseases a whole lot more interested in participating in a Travis County we willness program. That was really, I thought, our thing from the beginning. But in order to tie it all together, it seems to me that we ought to have all the specifics, we ought to know what funding is required. The court needed to vote on the amount. Then we identify the source. So the figures you're throwing out are ones that we've been hearing on for a long time anyway, but about a week ago we talked about financial incentives, which in my view made a whole lot more sense than in paying for part of the gym membership fees. And I thought a majority of us kind of thought that. So I don't know -- I don't know that -- there's no science about choosing the amounts. You make your best estimate and --
>> we don't have an estimate which we had provided the court before, but we will go back and make it even more --
>> we can update the estimate. One thing I do want to share to the court that the programs that are designed as part of this -- as the wellness program, we're focused on those cost drivers that we've identified as the main factors in cost of health insurance and health care. So we have focused on that aspect of it and we will update our budget and bring that back to you. We do have some resource through purchasing, one of -- laurie jones is looking into the cost of the equipment, so we're a little preliminary on that, but we will have that back before the court.
>> and if you could make me understand this and give me a clarification on what I was asking when I asked the question about what you're suggesting as far as cost is concerned, you said, well, $15,000 and then lisa said, well, $25,000. Well, I'm still trying to get in my mind is based on what are we going to associate that spending on? Is that the equipment? That's why I said resources. What resources are we really trying to tie down here that's in that range?
>> we'll bring you a specific list next week.
>> okay.
>> we provided a preliminary list for discussion.
>> right, right.
>> I was trying to check yesterday for --
>> the pedometers.
>> that the court approved a week or so ago. We need more than that?
>> yes.
>> but that's not in our backup today?
>> no.
>> I say bring it to us next week and let's move on it. I think we ought to take it to a vote. Some of this would be health equipment, which I assume would fall squarely under the health facilities category. We've been advised by legal that the housing finance corporation is an appropriate source also. I safe give us a -- I say give us a list and we try to figure out whether to approve the request and for source of funding if we do. I guess we need employees to know what the incentives are before they take the plunge and get the pledge next Tuesday, right -- I mean, next Thursday. So we could have this by Tuesday, then I think it would be good. Now, instead of teping your statement of your weight, we basically want you to step on the scale and we write it down, right? So if you're supposed to lose 30-pound, we know that everybody is starting off with a fear of weight.
>> and they would do that in private.
>> now, people like myself who are already fit, don't need to lose any weight, but have the other categories that we can use.
>> that's correct.
>> and the premise is that employees can do this individually if they choose, but they can also participate as a group, in a group where there's more support hopefully.
>> like exercise or stress management, relaxation, those sorts of things that are also important.
>> I was joking, by the way. I may have a pound or two that I could shed. [ laughter ]
>> anything further? Although we didn't provide the funding today, we do appreciate your hard work.
>> we wanted to plug one more thing for this Friday. Friday, February 6th is american heart association's go red for women campaign. It is a special day for women in particular, both men to support women and participate as well, by wearing something red, a red hat, a red shirt, a red dress, and to bring to light the attention that heart disease is the number one killer of women in this country. It's my understanding that even all of the cancers combined do not amount up to the number of deaths that women in the united states experience as a result of heart disease. So there is a wonderful american heart association website that has a lot of additional details on the campaign as well as many, many other resources and links to local resources as well. Alicia mentioned that there will be people from the local american heart association that will be here for our event on the 12th, but this Friday the 6th, if everybody could remember to wear red and take a lot bit -- a little bit of time to educate themselves on how heart disease affects women. Thank you.
>> there is one other point that we'd like to cover with the court. We would like to offer the opportunity, if the court members are willing, to give an individual message that would begin running sometime late this week right up leading up to the festival on whatever the individual message you'd like to give to employees about wellness, and we'd be glad to work with your offices to develop those messages. They could go out e-mail or voice mail, whatever you prefer.
>> where will the booths be set up, by the way?
>> if the lobby and hallway. -- in the lobby and hallway.
>> but you plan to use the courtroom for --
>> for speakers, yes. And the executive conference room will be turned into a massage therapy center.
>> the executive conference room is where we have executive session?
>> yes.
>> interesting use. [ laughter ]
>> I can hardly wait.
>> I know what you were thinking. [ laughter ]
>> we invite all county employees to get ready.
>> we'll have this back on next week. Thank y'all.
>> thank you very much.
>> does heart disease kill more women than men? I thought men -- the men rate was larger than women?
>> I don't know the answer to that. What was being promoted was that of all the other diseases and things that can aflikt women, heart disease was the main killer.
>> that's interesting.
>> good morning on "good morning america", they were talking about that. The number is creeping up. And this some of it comes as a result of diabetes as well.
>> very factors and that's another valuable link on american heart.org. There's a series of informational pieces on what the risk factors are, and diabetes was listed as one of the top ones.
>> so it really need to be cared for.
>> a lot of interconnection.
>> right.
>> the other thing that's important to recognize about heart disease in women is that all of those risk factors that they've been talking about over the years were based on men. Women's risk factors are different than men's. It's important for women to educate themselves to the fact that their warning signals are not the same. And what we've been thinking about for all these years.
>> but for the men who have had -- have -- (indiscernible). But are afraid to wear it, Friday would be an excellent opportunity.
>> oh, yes.
>> see you next week. Thank you very much.
Last Modified: Wednesday, February 4, 2004 6:25 AM