NEW ORLEANS – The City of New Orleans Health Department (NOHD) recognized three local businesses and organizations through the Fit NOLA Business Certification program for achieving workplace wellness.
There are three designation levels businesses can achieve through the program—the Platinum, Gold and Silver Awards. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana received the Gold Award, and Propeller: A Force for Social Innovation and New Orleans Public Library received the Bronze.
The Business Certification Program, based on national worksite wellness models, helps businesses move toward physical and nutritional fitness and recognizes businesses in the Greater New Orleans region that meet certain standards for worksite wellness such as: being physically active, eating fresh fruit and vegetables, providing lactation rooms in the office and having a tobacco-free workplace. Businesses that meet or surpass these standards receive special awards.
Fit NOLA, Mayor Mitch Landrieu's comprehensive plan to achieve healthy weight and fitness in New Orleans, provides businesses with the tool kit assessment to identify areas of improvement in hopes to lower employer expenses and improve employee health. There are already 15 other Fit NOLA certified businesses.
In 2013, the Business Sector, one of Fit NOLA’s six strategically formed teams, developed the Fit NOLA Business Toolkit to help companies assess their current state of workplace wellness. Comprised of representatives from Fortune 500 companies and local non-profits and universities, the Business Sector created the assessment to identify areas in which businesses could improve and celebrate championed initiatives and policies of employee health.
With the support of over 200 community organizations and corporate partners, Fit NOLA is committed to improving physical and nutritional fitness across the metro area by helping New Orleans become one of the top ten fittest cities in the nation by our 300th anniversary in 2018.
