New Wellness Programs Scheduled for SHSU
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| The Health/Kinesiology Center will be the home for SHSU's
WellnessWORKS program. |
Sam Houston State University faculty and staff will soon have
some new fitness options, thanks to Recreational Sports, the
Wellness Committee, the Staff Council, and even SHSU's first
lady herself.
Beginning next week, employees can
take advantage of massage sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays
from 4-6 p.m., according to Mindy Oden, director of Wellness.
Charge for the sessions will be $20 for 20 minutes or $10 for
5 minutes, and they will continue through March 7.
The massages are offered to students as well as faculty and
staff. Reservations can be made by calling 41985 or 41307.
Also beginning next week and scheduled
for noon to 12:50 each Wednesday through March 7 will be a series
of presentations billed as "Words of Wellness."
Topics include Achieve Overall Wellness,
Stress Management, Dieting Myths, Healthy Eating on the Run,
Heart Health and Aerobic Exercise, and Core Strength (Abs and
Back). Those attending are encouraged to bring their lunch to
eat while listening to the presentations. For
more information call Oden at 41307.
The big change will be a
new program called WellnessWORKS.
While details are still being determined and will be announced
in the near future, WellnessWORKS will give staff members the
option of requesting up to 30 minutes of release time per day
to pursue wellness activities.
"The program's objective is to
encourage faculty and staff to utilize on-campus facilities and
resources to achieve and maintain an improved level of personal
health," said Oden.
"Research has shown that fitness
leads to improved job performance, increased work satisfaction
and reduced health care/insurance costs."
One of the advocates
of the WellnessWORKS program has been Nancy Gaertner, a fitness
enthusiast who was involved in the creation of the university's
previous FitBucks program. This semester FitBucks will be
preplaced by a six-week program called "Fit Into Spring
Break".
Oden said Fit Into Spring Break will be an incentive program
in which exercise time translates to miles and the contest will
be to reach certain tourist destinations in the U.S. Details
are available on the Recreational
Sports Web site.
In addition to giving moral support
to the Wellness Committee and Staff Council, who did the groundwork
to get WellWORKS approved, Nancy Gaertner has even been out on
campus with Oden, measuring off routes for walking trails.
The trails will have stickers placed
on existing campus signs denoting the direction and distance
of the various routes, and there will be an online map as well.
In order to receive an additional 30 minutes during the day
to exercise, employees will use a WellnessWORKS Supervisor Consent
Form, which is now being developed, and will sign in and out
of the Health/Kinesiology Center in a process that is also
in development.
In addition to the new programs, Recreational
Sports has an extensive group fitness schedule for the spring
semester, offering sessions in everything from Yoga to Belly
Dancing.
Other sessions include Lunch Crunch,
Cardio Funk, Kickboxing, Hip Hop, Pilates, Interval/Toning, Bosu
Bounding, Jamaica Me Jump, Step, Boot Camp, and others. A schedule
of those sessions is online.
More fitness information, such as operating
hours for the Health/Kinesiology Building and details about other
activities, is available on the Recreational
Sports Web
site or by phone at 936.294.1985.
For those interested in outdoor activities,
Recreational Sports is developing a 300-acre area located along
the Trinity River near Riverside.
The property will eventually accommodate
a wide range of outdoor activities and provide an area to host
retreats, meetings and conferences. Future plans include a large
screened pavilion, boat dock, canoe rental, picnic areas, cabins,
and field space.
Jim Gaertner, SHSU president,
was also spotted at the Health/Kinesiology Center recently, and
said he is excited about all of the fitness plans.
"I
know that I feel better and seem to work better when I exercise
regularly," Gaertner said. "I hope that many of our employees
will take advantage of these new opportunities."
—END—
SHSU Media Contact: Frank Krystyniak
Jan. 26, 2007
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu.
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