For Immediate Release:
Contact:
Doris Konicki
847/818-1800, ext. 383
Occupational
medicine society recognizes Vanderbilt
for best corporate health program
CHICAGO, May 15, 2002-The American College of Occupational and Environmental Health (ACOEM) has selected Vanderbilt University's Health and Wellness Division in Nashville, Tenn., as a recipient of the 2002 Corporate Health Achievement Award (CHAA). Vanderbilt University's Health and Wellness Division was selected based on its exemplary programs in physician wellness and its focus on the overall health and wellness of Vanderbilt faculty and staff.
Vanderbilt becomes the first institution of higher education and academic medical center to receive this prestigious award. The Award was presented April 17 during ACOEM's annual American Occupational Health Conference in Chicago, Ill. Mary Yarbrough, MD, MPH, FACOEM, accepted the Award on behalf of Vanderbilt.
ACOEM, an international medical specialty society of more than 6,000 occupational and environmental medicine physicians, recognizes the best corporate health programs in American through the CHAA competition. The Award honors and provides national recognition to North American corporations and institutions exhibiting excellence in employee health, safety and environmental management, and recognizes the finest health programs in America. Competing organizations are judged on their commitment to, and excellence in, creating compre-hensive and innovative health and safety programs. Examiners look for measurable results in 23 quality categories covering four areas - healthy people, a healthy environment, a healthy company, and management and leadership.
Vanderbilt has an impressive breadth of programs focusing on maintaining and enhancing the health of its employees. Vanderbilt's Health and Wellness Programs have combined continuous quality improvement and the scientific method to create quality improvement projects that drive decisions about how its occupational health and health promotion activities are conducted and prioritized. The review committee was particularly impressed with Vanderbilt's Physician Wellness Program and its Ergonomic Workstation Assessments. The dedication and commitment of the director and staff was vital in Vanderbilt achieving national recognition for its employee health programs. As employers across the country face double-digit increases in health care costs for the third year in a row, there is increased interest in employee health programs that are cost-effective. The successful combination of quality improvement and the scientific method at Vanderbilt may provide a model that will be adopted by other corporations.
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2002/CHAA6
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