Mahaska Announced as latest Blue Zones Worksite in Oskaloosa
Mahaska General Manager Andy Davis and Human Resources Manager Julie Montgomery celebrate their company’s Blue Zones Worksite designation after meeting necessary components of the Blue Zones Worksite pledge. Mahaska is the first Blue Zones Project Worksite designation since Oskaloosa became a certified city in August 2015.
Oskaloosa, IA – Blue Zones Project® Oskaloosa announced that Mahaska, formally Mahaska Bottling Company, received Blue Zones Worksite® designation after meeting necessary components of the Blue Zones Worksite® pledge.
According to Mahaska Health Partnership Community Wellness Coordinator Ann Smith, who leads the Blue Zones Project® in Oskaloosa, Mahaska is the first Blue Zones Project Worksite® designation since Oskaloosa became a certified city in August of 2015. Several more worksite certifications are in the works.
“It is wonderful to see that people are still engaged in becoming a healthier community,” Smith said. “By making the healthy choice the easy choice, we have a higher chance of staying healthy. We need to not only address the physical health of our citizens, but the social and emotional health too.”
Mahaska General Manager Andy Davis said the company and its team members are excited about the designation. “We have always felt the health of our team members is important,” Davis stressed. “Anything we can do to encourage healthy habits will in turn benefit not only our team members but the company as a whole through productivity improvements, less absenteeism as well as lower insurance costs.
“There is also a connection between healthy and happy,” Davis added.
Davis stated that one of Mahaska’s favorite experiences in working on the designation was going through the pledge items and seeing that as an organization, they were already doing many of them. He said Mahaska’s designation is another way they demonstrate the importance of keeping connected and involved in the community.
“The leaders at Mahaska have always done an outstanding job of being present within the community by representing the business throughout Mahaska County and beyond,” Davis said. “We’ll keep Blue Zones alive at Mahaska by involving our employees in healthy eating potlucks, walking moai’s and distributing and sharing healthy receipes.”
Brought to Iowa through an innovative sponsorship by Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, in collaboration with Healthways and Blue Zones®, Blue Zones Project® is a community-by-community well-being improvement initiative designed to make healthy choices easier through permanent changes to environment, policy and social networks.
According to MHP CEO Jay Christensen, now that Oskaloosa is in its sustainability phase of Blue Zones® certification and have made such great strides, MHP hired Smith, in part, to continue guiding those principles and focus on gradual but significant lifestyle changes that will increase health, quality of life and longevity. For more information about how to become an Oskaloosa Blue Zones Worksite®, contact Smith at 641.672.3106 or oskybz@mahaksahealth.org.
Mahaska Health Partnership, located in Oskaloosa, is a non-profit health system accredited by the Joint Commission. It is guided by its mission to provide exceptional customer service and health improvement, linking the science of medicine with the humanity of compassionate care. For more information about how Mahaska Health Partnership is making healthcare personal, look us up on the web: mahaskahealth.org.
