| A covenant for better health made available to BWC BY ERIK ALSGAARDUMCONNECTION STAFF A new health care benefit for participants in the Baltimore-Washington Conferences health plan offers the opportunity for people to become better educated and more pro-active in managing their health. Called Well Aware, the CIGNA-sponsored program seeks to help people suffering from five health conditions to better manage their lives.  Sometimes folks are not good about seeing their doctors on a regular basis, said Carole Chaloner Silberhorn, executive director of the Pension and Health Benefits Office. Our hope is that the professionals who work in Well Aware will encourage (participants) to do that, to make sure theyve seen their doctor or had that blood test or whatever the case may be.
The program is like a health counselor, Silberhorn said, and it is totally voluntary. Well Aware is an optional program, Silberhorn said, even though other companies and some annual conferences are making it a requirement. The trend, she said, is towards this type of preventative care. It is preventative to a degree, because the person already has the disease, she said. It could be that somebody has diabetes (already) and they havent been diagnosed with heart disease, yet. So if they start taking care of themselves properly now, then it would be preventative to not get heart disease later. Five diseases and conditions are targeted in Well Aware: diabetes, asthma, heart disease, lower back pain, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. Depression, Silberhorn said, which is a problem especially for clergy, will be targeted at a later date.  Well Aware provides gbwc_superuserance and support for people with these health conditions, Silberhorn said, by providing newsletters, mailed reminders of health checkups, contact with a Well Aware nurse, and/or diaries and workbooks to record medical histories, among several benefits offered.
When a participant signs on, it is similar to entering a covenant, Silberhorn said. Its up to the person to make a commitment, she said. They dont have to pay for this because Im paying for it through the administrative fee. The executive director said that Well Aware could be of benefit to people in the plan that are unwilling to talk with their boss or district superintendent about a health concern. Theres a stigma attached to getting help, Silberhorn said. Its possible that this person (from CIGNA) will help participants go in that direction anonymously, so theyre not talking to me theyre not talking to the DS or their boss. This will be more one-on-one, outside our system, and hopefully, then, participants will trust that resource to get the type of help they need to get. Stress, especially on clergy, takes its toll, Silberhorn said. They are on call, 24-7, she said. The stresses on their lives are absolutely incredible. How many potlucks do they go to in a week? Do they have time to exercise or even take a day off? All these things enter into them not taking care of themselves, and if they have any type of predisposition to get one or more of these (diseases), more than likely, they will. | 
Login/Register to leave comment