Unalaska, AK – On June 15, the Community Center began a wellness program for employees of the city of Unalaska. In the report to the city council, it stated that "High cholesterol and blood pressure prescriptions" were two of the highest expenses for the city's health care plan, and suggested that "through healthy lifestyle choices" they could be reduced and avoided. Sarah Riffer, Recreation Manager at the community center will head up the program.

"The employee wellness program has been a seed of thought for this department for many years, as well as many city wellness programs are really taking shape in order to encourage an active lifestyle among staff," Riffer said. "More active and healthy individuals produce a better work and more stable times and hours, and tend to not be sick quite as much."

The program began on June 15, and Riffer says they have had positive reaction from city employees so far.

"Currently the department with the most sign-ups has been the public safety department, closely followed by finance, and our department actually. We're really excited about the positive response, and seeing new faces we haven't seen in here before, that's really encouraging," said Riffer.

The program is also designed to help individuals train well, but currently there is not a personal trainer on staff at the community center. However, in September, staff member Brina Fraiser is going to attend a 4-day class and become certified. Riffer explained that Fraiser's services as a personal trainer will be available for all patrons of the facility.

The goals of the program are to lower the amount of high blood pressure and cholesterol prescriptions needed by city employees, educate employees about the benefits of physical activities, such as a "feel good" endorphin hormone that is released during work-outs, and to ultimately lead to lower health care costs for the city. Staff at the community center will offer programs that focus on education about health periodically throughout the year.

"Many studies have been made and published, [reporting] that through physical activity, you improve your emotional health, through things like yoga and cardio, weightlifting, endorphins are released into your system that make you a happier person, that make you happier with your self and give you a more positive well being," Riffer said. "We hope that people will find as they start to exercise and really go from a casual exercise routine to a more committed exercise routine that they will start to feeling better about themselves as well as have a more positive outlook on their day-to-day life."

To develop the program, the staff at the community center looked at programs set up in other communities. The local staff decided to implement a low-maintenance and economical program. City Employees simply have to sign up for the program and receive a free 10-day punch pass. If the pass is used in a 30-day period, then individuals are allowed to continue to re-enroll and receive a free punch pass. However, if an employee does not utilize the punch pass during the allotted time, they will have to purchase the next pass.

"We're definitely going to monitor usage, and we hope that people will encourage themselves to stay committed. As well as, Yes, our staff is committed to sending out notes and emails and talking face-to-face with folks about staying committed and letting them know, saying 'hey we only saw you here a couple days last week, we really missed you,'" Riffer said. "There are also a lot of really cool prizes that can be obtained by meeting your own fitness goals. It is not a competition between any departments. it's not a competition between any employees. It's really just a competition with yourself to meet your own personal goals, and that is what we want to reward and emphasize."

Currently there are 82 city employees that already purchase passes and use the PCR facilities, and 67 who do not. The value of the passes of the 82 city employees is $8,825.

By offering the incentives to work out on a regular basis, the community center hopes that participants in the program will also decide to sign-up for and increase participation in other events, like races. The program is limited to city employees only, and not to volunteers, or the public. The program was approved at the June 23 city council meeting. Reports on the program will be given six-months after the start and one-year.