HOH honors 32 local employers

Photo: Peter L. McGuire

HONORED — Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce Executive Director John Williams, left, and Chris Davis of Healthy Oxford Hills, right, present Mark Bancroft, owner of Bancroft Contracting Company in South Paris, center, with a Work Healthy! Award. The Work Healthy! program recognizes local employers that have made efforts to improve the health and wellness of their employees.

NORWAY — The number of local employers focused on improving the health of their employees continues to rise in Oxford Hills.

Thirty-two local employers, including non-profit groups, businesses large and small and now a local school and municipality were presented with 2012 Work Healthy! Awards at a luncheon and ceremony on May 31.

The Work Healthy! Awards, sponsored by Healthy Oxford Hills (HOH), recognize area businesses and organizations that have made efforts to prioritize and support the health and wellness of their employees.

Chris Davis, of HOH, said that when the program was launched four years ago, only nine local employers were involved.

Five new employers joined the program this year, including Bancroft Contracting Corporation, REACH and NEPW. The Town of Norway and Oxford Elementary School also joined, becoming the first municipality and school in the area to do so.

Andy Spaulding, a representative of Veridian Health Management who has worked closely with HOH, spoke about the importance of local employers being involved in public health.

He called the increasing partnership between groups like HOH and local employers a "really radical shift."

"There's always been a disconnect between public health and business," Spaulding said.

He congratulated HOH and the Oxford Hills community, saying that those involved really understood how to address the issues.

"It's really about a community-led initiative," he said.

Spaulding said that it was in an employer's own interest to improve the health of their employees.

Not only does having healthy workers reduce health care costs to employers, Spaulding said, but it also increases productivity and efficiency.

He said that it is often difficult for small businesses to launch health programs on their own, which is why the resources HOH provides, including the Work Healthy! Award program is so important.

"It's really heartening for me to see what you're doing," said Spaulding.

Receiving the Work Healthy! Awards were:

Western Maine Health, New Balance, The Sun Journal, Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice, Norway Savings Bank, Grover Gundrilling, Maine Veterans homes, Oxford Networks, WJ Wheeler, Bancroft Contracting Corp. Oxford Elementary School, REACH, Richard Bader PT, Oxford Federal Credit Union, MCD, Androscoggin Bank, Hebron Academy, Northeast Bank, Hannaford, Community Concepts, Maine Machine, CN Brown, Safe Voices, Norway Rehab and Living Center, Western Maine Community Action, NEPW, Town of Norway, The Progress Center, Keiser Homes, Tri-County Mental Health, The Lost Gull and Paris Farmers Union.