Chancellor issues Campus Wellness Program update Verbatem – Chancellor Harvey Perlman issued this Sept. 24 e-mail as an update to the Campus Wellness Plan announced in the Aug. 30 State of the University address. In my State of the University address last month, I mentioned that UNL will be implementing a campus wellness program. This program will provide all of us with an opportunity to participate in health and wellness activities and have access to information to help improve personal well-being. I am also hopeful that this will eventually bring savings in our health insurance costs. The first step in this program is to complete an employee Health Risk Assessment. You will be asked to answer important questions about the programs you would like to see implemented as well as information about your current health and wellness. Obviously the success of the program depends a great deal on how well it meets your needs. This is a Web-based survey; you do not enter your name, only a user name that you choose, so your personal identity will not be associated with the information that you provide. We know that much of the $2 trillion spent annually on health care in the United States could be avoided because it is spent on preventable diseases, illnesses and accidents. By focusing on illness prevention and wellness we can not only avoid some of these financial costs but also help ourselves and our coworkers have an improved quality of life. I realize a healthy lifestyle is a personal choice; this program will provide you information that can make it easier for you to make choices that are right for you.
