Engaging in Wellness

Presenting engaging activities and information is key to the success of your wellness fair. Interactive exhibits and booths are more likely to get employees excited and interested in their health and will make them more receptive to the wellness messages being shared.

Therefore, when planning a health fair, it is important to partner with community organizations and businesses that can provide valuable wellness information in a fun, yet informative manner. The more hands-on the activities are, the better. To help get local businesses and organizations on board, emphasize that wellness fairs are not only a great educational opportunity, but they are also an easy way to promote their services to an attentive audience.

Consider including the following activities in your next wellness fair:

• Back Health: Ask a local chiropractor to show a display of a backbone and discuss the importance of healthy posture as a way to promote spinal health. Allow chiropractors to advertise their practices by giving out free promotional pens or notepads.
• Bicycle Safety: Design a bicycle safety course for employees and their children. Then, have participants ride through age-appropriate courses, while demonstrating the proper hand signals. Require that everyone wear a helmet when going through the course and give out prizes for those who participate.
• Child Car Seat Safety: Ask your local law enforcement to give demonstrations on how to properly install and buckle a child safety seat.
• CPR and First Aid: Contact a local paramedic, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) or Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to demonstrate CPR and simple first-aid measures for common ailments.
• Dental Care: Ask a local dentist to provide a demonstration of dental care, such as teaching proper brushing or flossing techniques. Ask if the dentist would be willing to provide toothbrushes, floss or toothpaste samples to your employees as a free giveaway for visiting the booth in exchange for the ability to advertise.
• Health Screening Tests: Reach out to local health providers to see if they would be willing to provide free health screenings to your employees. Suggestions for screenings include: blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), glucose, cholesterol and bone density.
• Heart Disease Prevention: Visit the American Heart Association’s website to download free heart-healthy resources that can be used at your next wellness fair. Resources include a blood pressure tracker and information on lifestyle and risk reduction, cardiovascular conditions, treatments, tests and more.
• Nutrition: Create a booth to educate employees on how to eat well, cut down on sugar and fat, and read nutrition labels. Provide handouts of easy, nutritious recipes and information on healthy recipe swaps like substituting spaghetti squash or spiralized zucchini in place of traditional, carb-heavy pasta. Consider giving away healthy snacks like apples and granola bars to encourage booth attendance.
• Physical Fitness: Contact a local health club or YMCA to provide free, five-minute instructions of some of their most popular exercise courses (yoga, Pilates, Zumba, etc.), and ask them to provide information on the importance of leading an active lifestyle.
• Skin Cancer Prevention: Set up an exhibit that teaches employees about what to consider when purchasing sunscreen, how to correctly apply it and how frequently, and which clothing to wear outside to protect themselves from the sun.
• Stress Management: Provide information on how stress affects the body and how employees can alleviate stress. Consider renting massage chairs or asking local massage therapists to provide free, short massages. Giveaways could include free stress balls.
• Tobacco Cessation: Engage employees in activities that highlight the dangers of smoking.

Use the list of activities above to help plan your next health fair. By incorporating a wide variety of wellness topics and presenting this information in a fun, yet educational manner, you can empower your employees with the knowledge necessary to led healthier lives, and, ultimately, to reduce their health care expenses.