I’m excited to announce that our department has been awarded a platinum award from the Healthy Arizona Worksites Program. Our vision at ADHS is to promote health and wellness for all Arizonans, and that starts with our team. We have several programs at ADHS—from wellness classes to breastfeeding support for new moms—that help make our department a healthier workplace. That means that our staff are better able to serve the people of Arizona and help us become a healthier state.

One hundred businesses from across the state were recognized today with copper, silver, gold and the new platinum awards for their worksite wellness program strategies at the annual recognition event at American Heart Association’s Halle Heart Museum. Additionally, 28 “FitPHX Businesses,” Phoenix businesses that attended Healthy Arizona Worksites trainings through the city’s partnership with HAWP, were honored.

The Healthy Arizona Worksites Program is a public health initiative offered by the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Maricopa County Department of Public Health. The mission is to help employers learn how to successfully implement worksite wellness initiatives to improve the health of their employees and businesses. FitPHX is a citywide healthy-living initiative, with the goal of boosting health in the region. Mayor Greg Stanton, Councilman Valenzuela, and Olympic Gold Medalist Misty Hyman launched FitPHX in 2013.

More than 785,000 employees have been impacted by the Healthy Arizona Worksites Program due to their employers’ commitment to becoming recognized in worksite wellness since the program started in 2013. Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to all the participating organizations for your continued commitment to improving the health of your staff and our communities.

I encourage more employers to take steps to improve the health and wellness of their staff. You can learn more about how to get started with the Healthy Arizona Worksites Program online. Over the next few months I will feature some of the work from the other award winners to help others get ideas on how they can make their workplaces healthier.