HEALTH and Wellness
Cash back for walking!
By Betsy Stewart*
It’s time to be rewarded for getting physical! What’s new to East Ohio in the new year is a physical activity program called Virgin HealthMiles where eligible participants can earn rewards of up to $300 over a 12-month period.
This new program is being sponsored by the Conference Board of Pensions through the Center for Health, an agency of the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church.
For 2010, those who are eligible to participate are full-time active clergy who are enrolled in the Comprehensive Protection Plan as well as full-time conference responsible lay employees enrolled in the Conference Health Benefit Plan. In 2011, the Board of Pensions plans to expand the eligibility to others, such as spouses and/or other health care plan participants. That decision will be based on the involvement of full-time clergy and the lay employee group during 2010.
To get started, eligible participants must go online and enroll at www.virginhealthmiles.com/login using their e-mail address. Once registered, the new enrollee will receive within a few days, via regular mail, a GoZone pedometer to tracks steps, distance and calories. The pedometer’s data can be uploaded to the LifeZone web site through a USB port on a daily or weekly basis.
Tracking steps is one of the ways a participant can earn HealthMiles, plus other physical activities such as cycling, yoga, dance, and other exercise can add up to more HealthMiles. As the miles add up, so do the rewards – up to $300 per year! The rewards can be exchanged for gift cards for stores such as Best Buy, Target or Home Depot OR for cash to spend or give to your favorite charity or local church.
The program can be motivating, challenging and fun. Once registered, participants complete a health questionnaire and set up goals. In no time, participants are able to review their activity journal. The site has numerous links to articles and videos on men’s and women’s health, nutrition, fitness, weight management and healthy aging.
HealthMiles build up over a 12-month period, moving to higher Reward Levels. There are five levels. Participants achieve Level 1 just by registering while Level 2 requires 6,000 HealthMiles. Without logging one step, 1,000 HealthMiles can be earned by completing the Health Snapshot. Additional HealthMiles accumulate by entering personal measurements and visiting LifeZone twice a week. By wearing the pedometer daily, steps accumulate quickly. A moderate goal is to complete 7,000 steps daily. That may sound hard to do, but the average person routinely walks 2,000 to 4,000 steps per day. It’s not a big stretch to achieving 7,000 steps or 10,000 steps - park the car further away from the church, the grocery store, or the shopping mall. Walk the church’s hallways several times a day. In no time the steps add up and your energy increases.
Levels 3 through 5 offer even more challenges toward a healthy you. And what fun to put those challenges into play. Challenge yourself or challenge other participants. Through the web site, create a challenge – think about it, districts or compass groups could compete, cabinet could be challenged, and then there’s the bishop. … But remember, he’s a runner and has worn out more pedometers than we want to know.
“Exercise is for everybody,” writes The National Center of Physical Activity and Disability. Disabilities are no obstacle for HealthMiles. If you have a medical condition that prevents walking 7,000 steps a day, no problem. You can still receive rewards for increasing your activity to improve your well being. Contact customer service at 866-852-6898.
The ultimate program reward is improving personal health. If you haven’t started your own physical activity plan or enrolled in the VHM program, then its time. Repeatedly, the conference health plan’s advisers have provided documentation that the plan’s participants need to make lifestyle changes to improve their health. Over the years, in conjunction with the health plan administrator and other vendors, the Board of Pensions has offered opportunities for monitoring lifestyle change, highlighted preventive care benefits, and offers the Health Check at annual conference.
This new program offers a financial incentive, but more importantly, a thought… “Move it & Lose It!” There is much to gain, but more importantly, to lose: Lose the pounds, decrease high blood pressure, and reduce glucose numbers. According to the Centers for Disease Control, inactivity drives 40 percent of the cost of lifestyle-related chronic diseases.
Last year, the Board of Pensions’ report to annual conference highlighted the need for conference health plan participants to become interested in their own health. Two conference members gave testimony regarding their choice to make lifestyle changes and how those changes gave new beginnings to their ministry, their family and themselves.
This year at annual conference, we again will promote healthy living, this time broadcasting the HealthMiles achieved. Let’s break some records for participation and accumulate those HealthMiles. Do your part to get physical!
*Betsy Stewart is the Benefits Manager for the East Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church
Links:
Center for Health
GBOPHB Virgin HealthMiles
Virgin HealthMiles
