The site offers more resources and information for faculty and staff to be healthy during and after work hours.
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If you haven’t visited the website for the Faculty/Staff Wellness Center recently, you’re in for a nice surprise.
For the past several months, members of the center staff have been working with Teaching and Learning Technologies to redesign the site.
“I wanted it to be more interactive and feature more news,” says center coordinator Cindy Novak.
Besides a cleaner look, the site now includes a blog that not only will be a place for employees to learn about the latest health news but also voice their own opinions. For instance, Novak says, people can use the blog to share information about diets they’ve tried in the past or find a workout partner.
“I want it to be a place for people to share information and connect with one another,” she adds.
A key feature of the new site is the addition of a ‘Relax’ section, which is meant to help people manage stress during their workday. “Our number one issue at Elon is stress; it’s at the root of a lot of our physical problems,” Novak says. “We want people to be mindful of it.”
This new section includes several relaxation techniques that employees are encouraged to use while watching a collection of relaxation scenes. Novak says that taking time during our busy schedules to use these techniques will lower blood pressure and decrease people’s flight-or-fight responses.
“It’s a simple thing,” she says. “Relaxing a couple of times a day has a huge impact.”
The site also offers a calendar with all the exercise classes being offered, a full listing of books, CDs and DVDs in the center’s lending library, and information about other services available to faculty and staff, such as Well Check screenings, massage therapy, laboratory blood draws and physician assistant appointments.
“We’re trying to reach out to everyone,” Novak says, adding that she hopes people get into the habit of checking the website regularly. “I want people to be informed about what we are doing.”
To browse the new site, click here.