Klondike Wellness: The Yukon's Newest Golden Resource
Yukon Department of Energy, Mines and Resources
Whitehorse , Yukon
“There's gold in them there hills!” These days this famous Klondike cry refers to more to employees as a golden resource, at least if you're lucky enough to work for the Yukon Department of Energy, Mines and Resources (EMR).
With a mission statement that “strives for a healthy and sustainable resource sector, developed and managed in partnership with Yukoners as a key contributor to a prosperous and competitive Yukon economy," you can be sure the Department values its 240 employees.
In fact, the Department is committed to fostering a healthy and physically active workforce, as well as providing a genuine balance between professional and personal lives.
This vision is evidenced by the Department's Wellness Committee, which aims to improve the mental and physical health of its employees through education and participation.
The Committee is comprised of five volunteers from within the Department, one senior government advisor and one representative from each of the two community EMR offices – North Yukon and South Yukon.
This group of dedicated individuals meets at least every three months to help bring wellness program initiatives to EMR personnel across the Yukon Territory.
In October 2003 the Committee held a first meeting to launch the wellness program's first event - The No Coffee, Coffee Break.
This initial gathering was held to promote the new committee, introduce its volunteer members and provide staff with an inaugural educational information session on making healthy nutrition choices at work.
Since then, interest has increased to attract up to 40 participants per activity.
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Wellness Program at a Glance
Essentially, EMR's Wellness Program consists of three components:
- Fitness Programs
- Work and Home Life Balance Programs
- Wellness Educational Programs
Component A: Fitness Programs
The Wellness Committee offers a wide variety of programming for EMR, including:
- Tai Chi, Yoga and Boxing
- These lunch time classes provide for an excellent midday stress reliever.
- Fusion Fitness
- Another lunch time initiative, this class combines of Yoga and Pilates and aims to re-energize participants for the afternoon.
- Women on Weight (WOW)
- This is a 12-week program for women who struggle with their weight and want to learn how to incorporate healthy eating and regular exercise into their daily lives.
- It consists of training sessions on nutrition, exercise and understanding the human body's composition. One employee successfully lost 8.5% of her body fat in just 3 months!
- Fitness Challenge
- This is a competition to see which EMR employee can do the most minutes of physical activity in a month.
- The Conquer the Silver Trail Walk
- The Wellness Committee and the Recreation and Parks Association of the Yukon work together to promote Conquer the Silver Trail , an incentive-based walking program in which participants ‘virtually' walk the Silver Trail.
The Silver Trail is a 204 km walk linking the three Northern Yukon towns of Stewart Crossing, Keno Hill and Mayo. On the Right Path is the related participant kit containing a log book and pedometer for use during the program.
The log book details incentive prizes attainable along the way, walking tips and a map of the trail. This program is designed to encourage EMR employees to ‘conquer the trail' by walking to and from work as well as with family, pets and friends.
- TheClimbing Mount Logan Challenge
- This particular exercise in active living at work is held each February. Linked to Health Canada's Stairway to Health initiative, it encourages staff to use stairwells instead of elevators to promote a healthier heart. The slogan: “When you go up, your blood pressure goes down - take the stairs.”
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Component B: Work and Home Life Balance Programs
The Wellness Committee also offers a wide variety of informative programming relative to balancing employees' home and work life. Here are some of the work/life balance programs being offered:
- The Woman Beware class teaches self defence, safety and prevention.
- Sessions with a dietician teach healthy eating habits.
- Clinics with a health nurse monitor blood pressure.
- Lessons in Lifestyle is another weight management program.
- The My Goal Program helps employees reach personal goals.
- Parenting sessions offer advice on improving parenting skills.
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Component C: Wellness Educational Programs
These educational initiatives promote readership amongst the EMR personnel. In the comfort of their own homes, employees can gain additional knowledge on the subject of health and active living as suggested by their Wellness Committee.
- Videos and printed material are available as library resources and can be signed out.
- These include self-help programs such as:
- How Not to Smoke , a program for woman who want to quit smoking;
- Active Living Everyday , a program to help employees become more physically active; and
- Lower your Blood Pressure , a program employees can follow at home.
- Many health articles are also published on the Wellness webpage of the EMR website.
- The committee posts these links to help educate staff members on news and current affairs items, including:
- Active living and health-related articles are also posted on the webpage. For example, employees can read up on the following subjects:
- Have a Healthy, Natural Summer - written by an EMR employee
- Tips for pet owners from animal hospital websites
- Sun protection tips from the Canadian Dermatology Association
- Food safety advice from the Canoe Network website
- Body Bulletins containing a multitude of physical and mental health information are sent to staff on a monthly basis.
- Recipes for Health calendars have been sent to all EMR staff.
- Recreational therapy through the Hobby of the Month, where employees share their passion and skills with co-workers, can also be found online.
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Other Wellness Program Initiatives
- A financial session was offered to help staff deal with holiday financial stress.
- A Reiki class was taught by a volunteer employee as an alternative medicine for pain management and stress relief.
- To get more ideas and share information, the Wellness Committee sends one of its members to the annual Canadian National Wellness Conference.
- Canada 's Healthy Workplace Week is a yearly celebration of workplace health. At EMR, this week is set aside to increase awareness about the importance of workplace health with special regard to personal and organizational performance.
Conclusion
This exemplary Wellness Program is proof that EMR's Mission Statement to promote a healthy approach to managing natural resources also holds true with its human resources.
For more information, please contact the Yukon Department of Energy, Mines and Resources Wellness Committee at emrwellness@gov.yk.ca.
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The Yukon's Energy, Mines and Resources Employees Appreciate Learning about Active Living through their Wellness Committee. Here's what a few of them said in surveys about the benefits of the Department's active living programs:
“This course solved a very serious health problem and helped me get on my way to losing weight.”
“I would recommend this course to others and would participate again in the future.”
“I thought this course was very valuable towards my wellness. My health has improved 100% literally. On my last doctor's appointment, my doctor commented on how he could see a huge difference in my health.”
 “The nutrition information and the training session with the fitness instructor were most beneficial.”
“I think it is fantastic that the Department supports initiatives that are geared at my health and well being.”
Click here to see the full archive of case studies and to access information on the seven principles of highly successful physical activity in the workplace programs.
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