SHIP stories
The Statewide Health Improvement Program
(SHIP) works to improve health through better
nutrition, increased physical activity and
decreased commercial tobacco use and exposure.
Across the state, work places are one key area in
which SHIP works to improve health. As of June
2011:
• SHIP has assisted with over 870 worksite
wellness initiatives. These efforts reached over
138,000 employees across the state and set
the stage to reduce obesity and tobacco use,
improve productivity and help contain health
care costs.
• 21 worksites have implemented tobacco-free
grounds and 20 additional sites are working
to implement this strategy.
Burnsville employer helps
employees in quitting smoking
not only a phone and web program to help tobacco
users but would also send a representative to the
company to counsel tobacco users in how to quit.
Rigid Hitch, a Burnsville manufacturer, connected with
the Statewide Health Improvement Program when
Betsy Kauffman, human resources manager, completed
a Dakota County survey about potential ways to
improve employee wellness and health. Tobacco was
smoked or chewed by nearly half of the 40 employees
and may have been a contributor to the company’s
annual increases of 15 to 30 percent in health care
claims.
Eight employees chose to enroll in the program and
Rigid Hitch arranged for them to meet for one-hour
sessions for five weeks—on company time—with the
Quitplan counselor. Along with Rigid Hitch’s investment
in employee wellness, SHIP resources supported
tobacco use screening, as well as incentives for
employees who remained tobacco-free.
A Dakota county staff person followed up with nocost ideas and suggestions for improvement. “They
let us know about the resources that were available
and brought them to us,” Kauffman says. “As a smaller
employer, I really appreciated their efforts because
we don’t have the resources to go out searching for
these solutions.”
Dakota County community health specialist Efren
Maldonado suggested to Kauffman that Quitplan was
www.health.state.mn.us/divs/oshii
Because of this effort, tobacco-use among employees
dropped by 20 percent, and Kauffman is pleased with
the results.
***
SHIP is working to make the healthy choice the easy
choice in Minnesota. Find out how at
www.health.state.mn.us/ship