IN S IDE TH I S I S SUE :

Happy New Year! 1

Your Wellness Survey Is Here! 2

Do You Know Your Insurance? 2

Get Screened = Get Rewarded 3

Beat Those Winter Blues 3

Wellness Warrior of the Month 4

Recipe Makeover 4

Follow Us 4

WELLNESS

COMMITTEE

MEMBERS

Julia Wilkins, Municipal Wellness Coordinator,

Board of Health, City of Holyoke

Nilka Ortiz, Executive Assistant, Mayor’s Office,

City of Holyoke

Katie Gallagher, Assistant Director, Board of

Health, City of Holyoke

Kirk Mackey, President, Dowd Financial Ser-

vices, LLC

Chris Jasinski, Health Management Program

Manager, Health New England

Amy Higgins, Wellness Consultant, Blue Cross

Blue Shield

Joe O’Conner, Fire Department, City of Holy-

oke, Section 19 Representative

Robert Judge, Personnel Administrator, Person-

nel, City of Holyoke

Kara Cunha, Second Assistant, City Solicitor,

City of Holyoke

Sandy Smith, Assistant Treasurer, City Treas-

urer, City of Holyoke

Debra Reardon, Office Manager, Department

of Public Works, City of Holyoke

Officer Joey Jones, Police Department, City of

Holyoke

Patricia Alford, School Nurse Leader, Holyoke

Public Schools

Julie Chartier, Development & Marketing Di-

rector, Greater Holyoke YMCA

The Way to Wellness J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 5

Happy New Year! It’s that time of the year again; time to start making resolutions and trying to live health-ier. Resolutions can be a great way to re-motivate your goal and the first step to suc-cess. Just make sure you create a S.M.A.R.T. goal.

S – Specific: Making a general goal is open to interpretation and difficult to attain. The resolution to “get healthy” has unlimited pathways. A specific goal would be, “I want to lose 10 pounds in 3 months by walking 30 minutes, 3 days a week.”

M – Measurable: Once you have a specific goal in mind, track it. Add a value. If you want to start exercising, how many days a week? For how many minutes? Think about tracking it on a spreadsheet or in your phone. A – Attainable: On December 31st, you feel you can accomplish anything! Yet to succeed at any goal, you must make it doable. It would be great to loose 30 pounds in a month, but is that possible to do in a healthy way? An attainable goal would be, “I want to lose 5% of my body weight.” R – Realistic: Not only does your goal need to be doable, you must be willing to work at it. A goal can be high and doable but what sacrifices are you willing to make? A novice runner with 2 jobs, 3 kids, an ailing parent, and going to school at night may not be able and willing to train for next month’s marathon. Think about personal commitments to determine what you can realistically accomplish. T – Timely: When on a work deadline, there is a sense of urgency. This is no dif-ferent with a personal goal. Set a date to reach your goal. If you want to quit smok-ing, mark a day on your calendar when you want to be smoke-free. For more tips on goal setting visit http://www.mindtools.com/page6.html

P A G E 2

T H E W A Y T O W E L L N E S S

Your Wellness Survey is Here!

Go to: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1897353/City-of-Holyoke

or look for paper copies in your building and inter-office to

Julia Wilkins at the Board of Health.

Complete the survey by January 31st to be entered into a raffle drawing!

Thank you in advance!

Do You Know Your Insurance? There are many benefits your insurance offers that you may not be aware of! See how you can save: Preventative services. The Affordable Care Act allows you to get many preventive care services for free from a network pro-vider, without a co-payment or co-insurance. Get paid for healthy choices. HNE and BCBS offer a $150 Wellness Reimburse-ment towards qualified fit-ness center memberships and weight loss programs. Contact Julia Wilkins by March 31st for forms and look for posters in your building about 2014 reim-bursement information. ER vs. urgent care. A visit to urgent care will cost $20, the cost of a co-pay, in contrast to the $150 bill you would get for using the emergency room.

Go generic and mail with medications Generic drugs and mail-order prescriptions can help you save money. When your doctor writes you a prescription, ask if it’s OK to get the generic drug. Stay in network. Going out of network can result in much higher costs and co-pays. Make sure hospitals, medical supply companies, home health providers, and imaging cen-ters are part of your net-work too. Save your receipts. Keep healthcare receipts for tax time, you might be able to deduct some ex-penses from your taxes. Enroll in a flexible spending account. FSA money is deducted from your paycheck pre-tax and set aside for your healthcare expenses. The

money in this fund is tax-free. Use it for doctor’s visits, lab work, and even hearing aids and eyeglasses. Help kicking the habit. City plans offer coaches, hotlines, support groups, or product discounts to help you quit smoking. Pay attention during open enrollment. Take a good look at how much you spent on medical costs in the past, and think about any life changes you might make in the next year (having a baby, for example). You might change your plan or tweak your FSA based on what you discover. Stay well! Living a healthy lifestyle and keeping chronic diseases under control can mean lower health care costs.

P A G E 3 J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 5

Get Screened = Get Rewarded City Hall, City Hall Annex, & DPW

Sign up for your free biometric screenings today!

Get a screening & meet with Julia Wilkins, Health Coach,

to receive a $50 gift card!

February 3rd and 4th, 11 am - 2pm

@ City Hall Auditorium

• Chair massages • Raffle prizes • Meet Big Y nutritionist • YMCA • Holyoke

Medical Center • Holyoke Health Center • River Valley Counseling Center

Questions?

Read the Biometric Screening FAQ email attachment.

Book an appointment & get more information:

Julia Wilkins - 322-5595 or wilkinsj@holyoke.org

Beat Those Winter Blues It may be common to feel blue when the holidays are over. The days are shorter and darker and you are kept inside. “The body clock takes its cue from sunlight, especially that in the morning,” says Michael Terman, Ph.D. “But as you get up into the northern-tier states, there’s a 4 ½ hour delay in sunrise in mid-winter versus the summer. This difference is enough to affect circadian rhythm timing and throw the body clock out of sync.” But you’re not alone and there are ways to feel better.

• Take a walk: Your body craves sunlight and vitamin D, so take a late lunch around 2 p.m., the warmest part of the day. This will also help increase your activity level and count toward weekly exercise.

• Up your fruits and vegetables: Studies show consuming the vitamins and minerals your body needs can lessen the chance of feeling anxious and depressed.

• Sooth your nerves: Take a warm bath, listen to relaxing music or sip chamomile tea. Talk to your doctor about supplements if overly anxious.

• Get a winter hobby: Go outside to enjoy snow shoeing, skiing, tubing, ice skating or snowman building. Choose to stay inside and host a healthy potluck dinner or have a movie night. Try anything you will look forward to offered only during winter months.

• Volunteer: Use time when you might be sad or lonely helping others and you will feel great.

Some may not find relief with these tips. If you have symptoms like extreme difficulty getting out of bed, gaining more than just the few holiday pounds, or have no desire to socialize with others, you could be one of the 10-20% of New-Englanders to suffer from S.A.D. Talk to your physician about light and cognitive behavior therapies.

Don’t let wellness be trampled by winter! For more information read http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/jan2013/feature1

Sign up

today as

one step

towards

your $50

gift card!

Wellness Warrior of the Month Officer Joey Jones - City of Holyoke Police Department

Everyone has daily habits that come naturally, maybe even learned as a child. Some make the bed every morning, never miss break-fast, brush their teeth before bed, or, like Officer Joey Jones, exer-cise. Since the age of 16, Officer Jones has worked out almost eve-ryday. He joined the Army as a Military Police Officer and 32 years ago became a City of Holyoke Po-lice Officer working in the arson squad, narcotics, gang task force, and code enforcement team. Being physically active on his own time has always allowed him to be more productive in his career. “My job is to maintain my fitness in order to perform my job to the best of my ability. I represent the City.” Even when he worked second shift,

he would be in the gym at 7 a.m., resting on weekends. But his career is not the sole source of motivation. With a fam-ily history of hypertension and dia-betes, he keeps healthy to avoid these diseases. Officer Jones at-tributes his healthy lifestyle to being

the only member of his family not on medications for any chronic dis-ease. “We have so many habits that work against us,” he says. “The least you can do is have one good habit to take care of yourself.” Even without a physically de-manding job, exercise would be an essential part of his life. Officer Jones not only practices what he preaches, he helps others by per-sonal training at his gym for the past eight years and helping city employees pass required physical tests with programs that build strength and endurance. Most re-cently, he has been teaching group exercise classes at the Council on Aging. His third session begins Tuesday, January 6th from 5:00-6:15 p.m. To sign up for this fun and dynamic class, email Officer Joey Jones at off.jones@holyokepd.org.

Directions: Heat a deep, non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook, stir-ring, until it begins to brown. Add the pepper, jalapeno, and garlic, and cook for another 2 minutes, taking care not to burn the garlic. Add the remaining ingredients, stir, and cook, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes. If it becomes too dry, add a little vegetable broth or reserved tomato juice. Check the flavor, and add salt and additional seasonings to taste. Recipe courtesy of: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2012/03/burritos-

Recipe Makeover

Spanish Rice with Black Beans

Healthy tip: Replace the traditional white rice and tomato sauce with brown rice and diced fresh or canned tomatoes.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 1 green or yellow pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped

• 1/2 jalapeno chile, stemmed, seeded and finely diced (add more or less to taste)

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 4 c cooked brown rice

• 1 1/2 c diced tomatoes (fresh or canned fire-roasted, liquid reserved)

• 1 1/2 c black beans (or 1 15-ounce can), rinsed well

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp ancho chili powder (or other pure, mild chili powder)

• 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder (or more, to taste)

• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Do you have a healthy recipe you want to

share?

Send to Julia Wilkins at the Board of Health

or email wilkinsj@holyoke.org