The University of Alabama’s Office of Health Promotion and Wellness has recently implemented a new program called WellBAMA to help the University’s faculty and staff maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The program seeks to identify the health needs of university employees. The WellBAMA program offers university staff a personal health screening in the fall and spring semesters.

The screening will test a series of bodily functions, such as blood pressure, cholesterol and weight to help assess a person’s stress levels or other health issues that he or she may be experiencing. After a person completes the screening session, they will be assigned a health coach. The health coach will connect a faculty member or university employee with the proper resources to achieve a healthy lifestyle and offer support to help him or her achieve their health goals.

Program attendees are required to attend one group session and one wellness program in order to earn rewards. Participants will receive a monetary reward of $25 after their first year with the program. Every additional year that participants are involved in the WellBAMA program, they will become eligible to receive $50-$125. Those unable to meet the requirements for the reward may qualify for an opportunity to earn the same reward through other means. Payments will only be issued to full-time employees.

Carolyn MacVicar, program coordinator for the Office of Health Promotion & Wellness, said that the goal of the program is to help university employees to stay healthy or to reach their own health goals.

“Our main goal is to keep our employees healthy not only physically but mentally, financially,” MacVicar said. “So, WellBAMA doesn’t just cover just health related [issues], it does, but we also try to strive for more than that. It’s breeding a healthy work environment as well.”

Nikki Bush, program assistant for the Office of Health Promotion & Wellness, said that the program gives employees the knowledge that they need in order to make improvements on their health.

“It helps make the faculty and staff aware on how to live a healthy life,” Bush said.

Faculty and staff interested in participating in WellBAMA can download the necessary forms online at http://wellness.ua.edu/wellbama/ and submit them to the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness.

For more information about WellBAMA or the Wellness Center, please visit or contact:

http://wellness.ua.edu/wellbama/

http://wellness.ua.edu/

https://bnrsupport.ua.edu/wellbama/public/home

(205)- 348-0077

[email protected]