A new “All-Access Membership” will allow University of Delaware employees, retirees and spouses to enroll in popular Employee Health and Wellbeing offerings throughout the year.

The package is now available for an annual one-time $75 payment and includes:

• A full year of employee fitness classes.

• Fall and spring programs, for example Walktober.

• Wellbeing workshops, including “Life In Balance” and “Financial Wellbeing.”

• Lifestyle Improvement Series, for example cooking classes

• Campus-wide health campaigns, including free screenings for Diabetes Awareness Month (November), the STAR Health Nutritious Newark Cook-Off (February) and the UD Benefits Fair (May).

“Our intent is to move away from employees needing to register for each individual service and package the most popular pieces into one membership. This will reduce barriers to participation,” explained Beth Finkle, director of Employee Health and Wellbeing.

Registrants can purchase the membership with Wellness Dollars, cash or credit card. The membership is valid from the date of purchase through June 30, 2018. These classes are separate from student fitness classes.

“Wellbeing is such a personal journey. The Employee Health and Wellbeing team has solutions, connections and resources that fit the needs of each and every unique employee here at UD,” said Alan Brangman, executive vice president and university treasurer. “We are huge fans of partnerships. This year, Employee Health and Wellbeing had great progress integrating with organizations and resources across campus including Athletics and Recreation, STAR Health, Human Resources and the Student Health groups.”

For a flyer about the membership, click here.

Employee Health and Wellbeing: A year in review

Finkle reviewed the year, saying, “The past year was a fantastic one for Employee Health and Wellbeing as we provided health and wellbeing to the UD campus, employees and surrounding community.”

In fall 2016, the unit held its annual Walktober program, encouraging members of the campus community to increase their step numbers. This year’s program was easily the most successful to date, she said, with 500 participants and 49 teams.

The group accumulated 132,175,112 steps, which is equal to 62,583 miles. “In only six short weeks, we walked around the equator the equivalent of 2.5 times,” Finkle said.

In the spring, Employee Health and Wellbeing launched its first family-focused campaign, "Be Well UDel." This program intentionally moved away from tracking healthy behaviors and instead focused on connection. The eight-week campaign included connection to colleagues, family and resources in the area. More than 500 employees, children and spouses participated.

“In-between major wellbeing campaigns, we continued to serve UD employees with workshops, lifestyle improvements programs, health coaching, exercise counseling, expanded fitness classes and much more,” Finkle said.

In another encouraging development, she said, new partnerships were forged around campus. The most notable additions were fitness classes and educational workshops on the David M. Nelson Athletic Complex and an expanded Employee Appreciation Week alongside the Office of Human Resources. 

“You may also have noticed that we changed our name from Wellness to Wellbeing,” Finkle said, adding, “A lot of thought, research and discussion went into this decision. Wellbeing encompasses more than physical health; it includes career, community, physical, emotional, social and financial wellbeing. We want to integrate health, prevention, wellbeing, work-life, organizational effectiveness, and leadership at the individual and institutional perspectives into a comprehensive program.”

In the coming year, the unit will continue to build a thriving culture of health and wellbeing, where people are healthy, fueled and inspired to bring theirbest self to work each day, Finkle said. Through continued partnerships, including integrating employee and student health groups on campus, the unit plans to create a safe, supportive environment that makes healthy choices easy.

“If you have a passion in health and wellbeing, join our ambassador program,” she said. “These positive role models help us promote University-sponsored services, programs and initiatives that support a culture of health and wellbeing, while improving quality of life.”

She said the goals of the ambassadors are to encourage co-workers to participate in the various programs and activities, share ideas for new opportunities and answer questions that fellow employees may have about the Employee Health and Wellbeing program.